Culture

Washington is poised to become the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage as Sen. Margaret Haugen announced Monday that she would support the measure.

Her support marks a majority for gay marriage supporters in the state's senate.

"I know this announcement makes me the so-called 25th vote, the vote that ensures passage," Haugen said in a statement on Monday. The 49-member Senate now holds 23 Democrats and two Republicans in favor of the bill. more >>

A prominent Christian apologist believes that mass media has made Americans vulnerable to mass-marketed spiritual ideas, like those pushed by Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra.

Dr. Ravi Zacharias, who details this in his new book , Why Jesus? Rediscovering His Truth In An Age of Mass Marketed Spirituality, said that Americans have been made susceptible to the allures of spiritual ideas because of mass media.

In an interview with CP, Zacharias said that television has "built in it the capacity of god-makers." more >>

Paleontologists have discovered the oldest known site of dinosaur fossils in Golden Gate Highlands National Park, South Africa.

The details of the discovery were published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dating back to 190 million years ago, the site includes several dinosaur nests, eggs, hatchings, and remains of adults for the dinosaur species known as Massospondylus.

The plant-eating species was a predecessor of the largest animals to ever walk the Earth – the long-necked sauopods, such as a Brachiosaurus. more >>

J.C. Penney will cut thousands of jobs Wednesday from all 1,107 stores owned nationwide, and in addition, it will force employees to take undesirable schedules.

The company is currently undergoing a complete renovation, led by Chief Executive Officer Ron Johnson, former retail chief of Apple Inc. Johnson intends to replace sales and clearance events with "every day low" prices.

The staff deduction will be the first initiative to lower prices. Jobs that require re-tagging merchandise and displaying "sale" signs will be eliminated. more >>

Christians should understand that being able to give reasons for their faith is not merely an option – it's biblically mandated, says apologetics author and speaker Lee Strobel.

To help Christians better explain and defend their faith, Strobel and ministry associate Mark Mittelberg have launched The Institute at Cherry Hills, an apologetics and evangelism ministry at Cherry Hills Community Church in Highlands Ranch, Colo. The institute is aimed at innovating new approaches to defending and sharing the faith.

Strobel and Mittelberg will kick off a series of national simulcasts to be hosted at churches starting in March with the event "The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask," based on Mittelberg's book by the same title. more >>

The answer to combating the debilitating lies one might believe about oneself is to find the truth in Scriptures, suggests a Tennessee pastor who recently wrote two separate "10 Lies" lists for what men and women might wrongly think about themselves.

Church strategy consultant Ron Edmondson, who is a co-founding pastor at Grace Community Church in Clarksville, told The Christian Post that after working with hundreds of people over the years he has come to see that there are some consistent lies men and women believe.

"I counsel with people every week who are believing lies that keep them from enjoying life and being all God would have them to be. Ultimately, as believers, we are to believe and follow truth," Edmondson said. more >>