Culture

Traditional marriage is not only good for children, it’s good for taxpayers. So say traditional marriage advocates who are participating in a weeklong initiative aimed at promoting marriage. The leaders of National Marriage Week, which began Sunday and runs through Feb. 14, say building a “marriage culture” helps curtail poverty and the fatherlessness that influences […]

Filming began this week on a biopic about Christian surfer Bethany Hamilton, who has become a top professional surfer despite losing her arm in a shark attack six years ago. Soul Surfer stars AnnaSophia Robb (Because of Winn Dixie) as Hamilton, Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt as her parents and Grammy winner Carrie Underwood as

This Friday Preacher’s Kid, a modern retelling of the story of the prodigal son, will hit the silver screen with a message of redemption and unconditional love. “It’s the story of the prodigal child brought forward into modern time,” said the film’s distributor, Matt Crouch, chief executive officer of Gener8Xion Entertainment, Inc. “What we were

Today’s release of Gayle Haggard’s book Why I Stayed: The Choices I Made in My Darkest Hour, detailing why she stayed with megachurch pastor Ted Haggard after learning of his secret homosexual activity and drug use by way of a national scandal in 2006, is opening up a conversation that is long overdue. So say

The nation’s first Christian television network marked 50 years in ministry Monday. Founded by Pat Robertson, the Christian Broadcasting Network was incorporated on Jan. 11, 1960, and began broadcasting nightly half-hour programs in October 1961. Robertson estimates that some 500 million people have come to Christ as a result of the global television ministry. “You

While many Christian leaders campaign to keep Christ in Christmas by going after retailers who use the words “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,” a group of pastors are waging a different kind of culture war. Now in its fourth year as a rising movement, Advent Conspiracy challenges church members across the nation to fight

Mainline Protestant churches might be “on the precipice of a period of decline,” says research guru George Barna after his research firm’s latest report on the state of mainline denominations. Although The Barna Group study recognized a recent 10-year stability in the six major denominations-American Baptist Churches in the USA; the Episcopal Church; the Evangelical

The Blind Side, starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw, is undeniably inspirational. At a recent screening, many viewers were openly in tears. But Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, the Christian couple at the center of the film that opens Friday, hope the story of how they adopted a homeless black teenager who eventually became a

The popular Twilight series, which has spawned a film franchise that releases its second installment, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Friday, is getting mixed reactions from Christians who alternately see it as a doorway into Satanism or a tool for evangelism. Since 2005, Mormon author Stephenie Meyer’s four novels about a vampire named Edward Cullen

A grass-roots organization seeking to pass state amendments defining a fertilized egg as a person is building momentum nationwide as the group marks its first anniversary this month. Personhood USA has groups formed in more than 30 states, with several poised to introduce legislation or ballot initiatives in 2010. Founder Cal Zastrow, a longtime pro-life

The makers of the surprise hit Fireproof will produce a film about fatherhood as their follow-up to the top independent movie release of 2008. Officials for Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga.—where Fireproof and their earlier films were created—made the announcement during Sunday night’s church service, which drew Christian media members who were flown in

For years singer and author Rebecca St. James has passionately delivered her True Love Waits message about abstinence and purity. Now she is extending that message with a burden for the unborn via her latest movie, Sarah’s Choice. In her first leading role, St. James portrays Sarah Collins, a rising single professional who has to