Culture

WASHINGTON – A professor of public policy has recently argued that the significance of religion in the lives of former U.S. presidents has been largely "understudied" by scholars.

Professor Mark J. Rozell of George Mason University was part of a panel that met Monday at the National Press Club to discuss the role of religion in American politics.

"Many social scientists in particular dismissed the importance of religion as a variable in American politics and I think that was a mistake," said Rozell in an interview with CP. more >>

An increasing number of Christians are drifting away from their faith because of the lack of good answers to their spiritual questions, warns apologetics author Mark Mittelberg in an interview with The Christian Post.

The author of The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask as well as his latest release, The Reason Why Faith Makes Sense, believes that the plethora of misinformation found in bestselling, so-called religious books, and the rapidly growing number of skeptical websites have Christians second-guessing themselves.

Mittelberg's passion for getting answers to the myriad of questions about Christianity in the hands of believers and non-believers led him to team up with author and speaker Lee Strobel more than a year ago. The two apologists have formed The Institute at Cherry Hills, an apologetics and evangelism ministry at Cherry Hills Community Church in Highlands Ranch, Colo. more >>

In response to mounting rumors, a spokesman for major social networking site Facebook denies that it will be creating an online news publication.

Jonathan Thaw, manager of corporate communications for Facebook, told The Christian Post that although Facebook hired journalist Dan Fletcher as a "managing editor" there were no plans to create a news publication.

"Basically Dan is joining the communications team and he is helping with corporate relations," said Thaw. more >>

Jefferson Bethke, the online evangelist whose recent video "Why I Hate Religion" saw over 17 million views in just one week, has created a new spoken word poem – this time tackling love, sex and marriage.

Bethke, 22, says that his hope for "Sex, Marriage & Fairytales" is to highlight the most common and problematic issues plaguing marriages today, while emphasizing Jesus as the "ultimate healer, redeemer, and restorer of every marriage."

"My intention would be that this poem would allow you to look more deeply to Jesus to either better your current marriage, or prepare for your future marriage," he writes below the YouTube clip. more >>

In a unanimous vote earlier this week, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a resolution declaring 2012 the "Year of the Bible."

According to H.R. 535, the Penn. House declares "2012 as the 'Year of the Bible' in Pennsylvania in recognition of both the formative influence of the Bible on our Commonwealth and nation and our national need to study and apply the teachings of the holy scriptures."

"Any year or every year would be a good choice to recognize the value of the Bible," said State Representative Jerry Stern, one of the sponsors of the resolution, in an interview with The Christian Post. more >>

Two years after a devastating earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people in Haiti, Christianity is fast replacing Voodoo in the lives and practices of the people, a missionary has revealed.

According to the Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook, there is a fusion of beliefs in Haiti – 80 percent of people profess to be Catholic, and another 16 percent are Protestant yet roughly half of the population still practices Voodoo.

However, it is no secret that Christianity has been expanding as a religion in Haiti – and a host of Christian missionaries and charity organizations who flew to the Caribbean nation to help the millions in desperate need have also contributed to a large conversion movement. more >>