Compassion and World Religions

This week, on May 24, The New York Times published an opinion piece by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, entitled “Many Faiths, One Truth.”

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Rabbi Jill Jacobs and Tikkun Olam

As an interfaith initiative, Social Action Ministries recognizes that people come to the work of ending homelessness with a variety of ways of understanding the relationship between faith and social action. This week we will look at a Jewish concept that has made its way beyond solely Jewish circles: the concept of tikkun olam.




Rabbi Jill Jacobs speaks about tikkun olam (posted by JInsider)


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Religious Perspectives in the Public Sphere

In our reflection last week, we ended with two questions that centered on a basic theme: the relationship between prayerful trust in God and interfaith social action efforts.

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“Pray Hard and Work Hard”: Dr. Ron Sider’s Call to Action

Last week, we turned to the insights of Dr. Ruy Costa of Episcopal City Mission in order to consider the relationship between scripture and social change. Today we turn to an article from someone who also finds a call to justice in the Christian scriptures: Dr. Ronald J. Sider.

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"You Always Have the Poor with You": Scripture and Social Change

After one of my first letters to the editor on behalf of Social Action Ministries in support of Housing First and ending homelessness was published in an out-of-state newspaper, I took the opportunity to read the comments posted online underneath my contribution.

Click here to read the rest of this post on the new SAM blog at socialactionma.wordpress.com.

Housing and Human Dignity

Last week, we began to reflect upon a shift from emergency responses to permanent solutions—a shift that is rooted in the conviction that we cannot in good conscience allow homeless shelters or the streets to be considered acceptable “housing” for any members of our society.

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Shifting from Emergency Responses to Permanent Solutions

Social Action Ministries (SAM) is dedicated to a single mission: engaging faith communities in efforts to end homelessness. For many people of faith who have participated in SAM throughout the years, this is an idea that makes sense: we need to respect the human dignity of our most vulnerable neighbors by finding ways to end their homelessness.

Click here to read the rest of this post on the new SAM blog at socialactionma.wordpress.com.