Does the US have a duty to act in Syria? Is it possible to somehow intervene and still do more good than harm? "Nothing is certain in human affairs," says this political and moral philosopher.

"For weeks the newspapers have included articles about the mounting deaths and suffering of ordinary Syrians. These articles implicitly pronounce a familiar imperative: something must be done. But in the face of this imperative, we are compelled by another: force is justified only where there is reasonable hope of doing more good than harm."

“It doesn’t take a lot of misfortune to be on the street these days. I think everybody in America knows that right now,” says Ann Miller of Helena, Montana, where she and her husband, Wayne, opened God’s Love, an emergency homeless shelter and soup kitchen.

"We’re a nation based on moral values, and when we express those values to communities around the world, we’re showing them an America…with whom they want to partner and not fight."

Working with communities of faith means “helping millions of Americans connect to the opportunity to serve vulnerable populations abroad.”

"What’s wrong with this picture: 50 miles north of here is possibly the worst human rights situation, including Christian persecution in the entire world, and here we are in South Korea living a lifestyle that’s probably on par with the United States and Europe," says pastor Tim Peters, a missionary in South Korea.

The congregation of St. Paul's Episcopal in New Orleans, hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, is now helping handicapped children in Haiti, survivors of the earthquake there. "It was clear right away the connection between New Orleans and Haiti," says Rev. Scott Albergate.

We discuss the major religion and ethics stories of the past year in the U.S. and abroad with Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, Religion News Service editor Kevin Eckstrom and Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly managing editor Kim Lawton.

"They don’t believe that either change is possible there or that their money, or their resources, what they give, will actually translate into something different on the ground. That’s the crisis that we’re seeing," says American Refugee Committee president Daniel Wordsworth.

"I feel the young people and children, adolescents, all of them, they all need an opportunity...they need a good education," says Sister Judith Lupo, head of Brazil's largest church-run social services agency.