"The phrase 'moral values' is an illusion." -- George Bishop, political science professor

The serious harm to society, as University of Cincinnati political science professor George Bishop sees it, comes not from a decline in values, but from animosity between political parties. “We're witnessing the symptoms of religious and political polarization,” he says. “There's much more antipathy, intense partisanship, lack of tolerance of other people's views.

“It cuts both ways. We aren't talking to each other. We aren't listening to each other. We aren't even watching each other. Something serious has been lost.”

What makes this polarization different from previous signs of partisanship? He offers a vivid example: When those on the political left see George W's face on the TV screen, they literally turn the channel, but that is not how they reacted to his father, he says. The mentality has changed.

Likewise, their counterparts bristle at the mention of Hillary, Bishop claims. “She's a lightning rod. It happens on both sides.”

Of course, the average person is not really paying a lot of attention to politics, he adds. The “attentive political core” experiencing this polarization is maybe 25 to 40 percent, he guesses. “But we're the ones at each other's throats, defining each other as good or bad. Moral values have become part of the polarization.”

Polarization's threat to American society gains intensity from the fact that it opposes tolerance of cultural diversity, says Cuomo. “The American tradition acknowledges that we can flourish in a society with people who don't share our values, but this idea that there ought to be just one set of values is a real rejection of the whole idea of ethics.

“You wouldn't need democracy if everybody agreed on values. You wouldn't need to say everyone's opinion counts if everyone's opinion was the same."

“Values shape our ethics, but ethics is the place where we deal with people fairly even if they don't share our values. I am committed to the idea that all of us are morally valuable because we are all special.”

Larry Jost agrees, “The founders of our country realized that deep differences existed, and they wanted to err on the side of tolerance. They had vast experience with religious intolerance.”

"When you deal with human rights you are not dealing with something clearly defined in the Constitution. They are rights that are clearly defined by the mandates of a humanitarian concern." -- Martin Luther King Jr., 1929-68

Whether moral differences among people have intensified over the years or people have merely become less willing to discuss them, the result is the same. Genuine dialogue has died.

“This is very damaging to a democratic society to have talks about ethical engagement stop at the level of values,” continues Cuomo, who teaches a class in Philosophy and Religion. “Ethics is where we ask, 'Given that we have diverse values, how are we going to get along fairly?'

“When we stop at the level of values, we don't go to the higher moral ground where we ask what it means to respect people's rights in a society with different values and religious views. This is the foundation of democracy.

“It's not that virtues give you a simple picture of right and wrong; virtues give you wisdom to help you negotiate a very complex and confusing world. Virtues don't make things seem simple.”

But people long for the world of their childhood where the good guys wore white and the bad guys wore black. “They think a clear picture of good and evil will reduce anxiety,” Cuomo says, “but all that anxiety gets pushed onto others. Anxiety has to go somewhere.

“The sad thing about this moment is that instead of thinking how can we make the most of the prosperity and ingenuity, we're at war on every front. Society can only grow and turn conflicts around if there's room for the voice of the 'other.' We need a social milieu that says you have to respect people who are different from you.”