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America Doesn't Have a Politics Problem. It Has a Dignity Problem.
Let's be honest about what's happening in this country.
We scroll through our feeds, watch the news, and sit across the dinner table from people we once loved without flinching — and somewhere along the way, contempt became normal. Not just tolerated. Normal. We've grown so accustomed to the sneering, the mockery, the tribal score-settling that we barely notice it anymore. And that should alarm every single one of us.
A new poll released by Dignity.us — called the "Dignity Barometer" — put hard numbers to what most of us already feel in our bones. A staggering 83% of Americans say they worry about division in this country. That puts it neck-and-neck with the cost of living as a kitchen-table concern. Think about that. People are as troubled by how we treat each other as they are by whether they can afford groceries.
That's not a political crisis. That's a spiritual one.
We Know Better. So Why Don't We Do Better?
Here's what makes the poll's findings so striking — and so convicting. Ninety-four percent of Americans, across every political stripe, say people should be treated with dignity. Ninety-four percent. That is about as close to unanimity as this fractured country ever gets.
And yet, those same respondents said that fewer than one in three Americans actually live that way.
The authors call it the "dignity gap" — the yawning chasm between what we believe and how we behave. If you spend any time in Scripture, you'll recognize this immediately. It's the oldest human story there is. We know the good. We choose otherwise. And then we point the finger everywhere but at ourselves.
Who's to Blame? (Spoiler: Look in the Mirror)
The poll didn't shy away from naming names. Politics ranked as the most contemptuous arena in American life — only 10% of respondents thought politicians treat others with dignity, while nearly 60% said they treat each other with outright contempt. The media wasn't far behind, with social media close on its heels.
But here's the part that deserves the most attention: 73% of Americans said all of us bear responsibility for the divisiveness we're drowning in.
That's not a comfortable finding. It's a holy one.
For those of us in faith communities, we don't get to sit this out by pointing at politicians and pundits. We are called to something higher — and the data suggests we're not consistently living up to it. When we mock those who vote differently. When we share contemptuous content online without a second thought. When we treat political victory as more sacred than the person sitting across from us, we are part of the problem, not just witnesses to it.
There Is Good News — And It Starts With You
Before you close this tab in despair, stay with me. Because the poll didn't just diagnose the wound. It pointed toward healing.
Nearly three-quarters of respondents said they believe healing is possible. Ninety-two percent said that offering dignity to one another is a way to build trust. Nine in ten said that even after contempt has torn relationships apart, treating each other with dignity can bring people back together.
That is a resurrection story wearing secular clothes.
And the change doesn't begin in Washington. It doesn't begin with a new law, a better algorithm, or the right candidate winning in November. The poll found that the spaces where Americans already treat each other best are the family, the school, the volunteer organization — and yes, the church.
We are already doing this. We just need to do it more deliberately and let it spread outward.
Three Steps Worth Taking Seriously
The Dignity.us authors laid out a pathway forward that, frankly, reads like pastoral wisdom dressed up as social science.
First, self-reflection. Shine a light on your own blind spots. One of the poll's most quietly devastating findings was that 77% of people said they treat others with dignity — while less than half said they receive it in return. The math doesn't work. Which means most of us have a gap between how we see ourselves and how we actually show up. That's worth sitting with in prayer.
Second, redirect your attention. When we obsess over how contemptible everyone else is behaving, we have no energy left to examine ourselves. Less scrolling through outrage. More honest inventory.
Third, start local. Your neighbor. Your pew. Your dinner table. You don't need a platform or a following or a seat at any important table. You just need the next conversation and the willingness to have it differently.
The Moment We're In
Timothy Shriver, one of the founders of Dignity.us, put it plainly: "Dehumanizing others makes enemies for your cause, and contempt kills our conversations. But dignity lets us keep talking."
The faith community has always known this. We believe every human being carries the image of God — the imago Dei — and that this fact doesn't evaporate when someone pulls the wrong lever in a voting booth or holds a sign we disagree with. That conviction is not a soft, naive sentiment. It is a radical, countercultural claim that the world desperately needs someone to live out loud.
That someone is us. And the time is now.