Dogs, says Tim Hetzner of Lutheran Church Charities, are “a very gifted part of God’s creation.” In disaster situations they sense when someone is hurting, and together with their handlers they minister compassionately to the needs of victims. More →

Should houses of worship damaged by wind and water receive federal money to rebuild? Rabbi Majorie Slome calls her temple in Queens “a community institution” as well as a house of worship, and she doesn’t think insurance money will be enough to cover the costs of repairing it. More →

The Chabad Center of the Five Towns in Cedarhurst, New York has been providing up to 2,000 meals every day. More →

The destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy “is just as much a physical crisis as it is a spiritual and emotional crisis for people,” says Mike Ebert of the Southern Baptist Convention’s relief arm. More →

“Church groups, mosque-related groups, synagogue-related groups—it’s not necessarily their mission to go and promote water security, but if it’s their mission to help their neighbors, which it always is, then we’re going to have to think hard about how we’re going to work together,” says one of the founders of Partners in Health. More →

The widespread crisis in Japan is marked by ongoing relief efforts and acknowledgment of the impermanence of life. More →

The Earthquake Thunder Fish, Yosuke Ueno Since its “opening” in 1854 by U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry, Japan often has been defined in the West by a single, simple image. Sometimes that image has been one of exotic, romantic tradition … More →

With major earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, relief organizations have their work cut out for them as they help the people of these devastated countries. More →

Watch scenes from an early-morning memorial service in Port-au-Prince to mark the one-month anniversary of Haiti's devastating earthquake. More →

Local church leaders in Haiti and the Dominican Republic are waging a joint campaign to make sure aid gets to where it needs to go. More →

A Lutheran minister who responded to the Haiti disaster says US religious communities must help, but "the strength of the future is in Haiti, not the United States." More →

How do religious leaders respond to questions about God's role in the face of human suffering and tragedy? More →

A new report says this year Americans gave record amounts of private charitable donations. Another report says Americans donated nearly $3 billion to post-hurricane relief efforts. Yet nearly four months after Hurricane Katrina, the magnitude of the destruction is still difficult to comprehend. In the midst of it, many people here say the themes of Christmas are echoing in new and poignant ways. More →

Although authorities have mostly focused on evactuating New Orleans residents, there were also a few people who had fled the city who were allowed back in. One of them was the Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana, Charles Jenkins, and correspondent Deborah Potter went with him. More →

As the Gulf Coast reels from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the federal government tries to speed up its much-criticized response to the crisis, especially in New Orleans, religious groups are playing a key role in emergency relief efforts. More →