The Difference Faith Makes

The Sweet Truth NYC victory is a testament to the power of faith organizing in service of public health and social justice. This exemplifies the science-based, community-driven policies that IPHN advocates for, as we engage and educate communities around the intersections of faith, public health, and equity.

Faith organizations are rooted in the community. In the Sweet Truth campaign, of the over two hundred organizations that ultimately signed on to a statement of support, over half were faith-based organizations, from small, Pentecostal Christian churches in the Bronx to larger networks of Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, and Mainline Protestant Christians.

Collective faith-inspired voices make a difference in policy advocacy. Diverse faith leaders and congregants made the case for the policy change to news media and to the New York City Council, providing a values-based voice and community resonance.

IPHN connected faith communities with expertise necessary for the campaign, including from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (science, policy, and legal); NYU Langone Health (implementation and evaluation research); and physicians from health care organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics and Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

IPHN is building on these learnings to educate and equip faith communities with public health knowledge and tools, facilitate partnerships between faith-based organizations and public health experts, and build multi-stakeholder campaigns to address health disparities in communities across the United States and around the world.

How people of faith are building healthier communities

When you combine public health expertise with faith-inspired community voices invested in transforming public health, you get a powerful partnership–one that can create real change in the systems, policies, and environments that affect our health and well-being.

People of faith can have a big impact on the health and well-being of their communities by taking action towards system and policy change. Most of the world’s faith traditions have teachings on social justice and public health that motivate faith communities to be agents of positive change.

"Seeing populations as the patient"

Michael Rozier

Faith and religion impact individual well-being, and faith teachings guide our motivations and actions.

People of faith working in health ministries serve as healthcare providers and health promoters, from meeting basic needs to running hospitals.

Faith communities act as agents of public health policy change through campaigns, education, and partnership with public health institutions.

All faith traditions, at their best, stress the moral obligation to work toward healthier and safer communities. Faith communities enact this obligation by meeting individual and community needs

In the Christian tradition, more than one in seven patients in the U.S. is cared for in a Catholic hospital every day.

Across the world, Hindu communities mobilize for environmental action that address access to clean drinking water and protecting natural resources.

Across the US, Muslim-run free clinics provide services to low-income and uninsured patients.

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