Highly controversial Broadway play The Testament of Mary is closing after only two weeks despite earning three Tony Award nominations.  

Colm Tóibín's stage adaptation of his novella opened on April 22 and was scheduled to run until June 16. But rather than its scheduled 12-week run, it closed after only two weeks, ending on May 5, with only 43 performances. The play earned three Tony Award nominations for best play, lighting, and sound.

On opening night and thereafter, protesters peacefully picketed outside of the Walter Kerr Theatre. "This play defames the blessed Virgin Mary. It attacks Christians. It attacks the veracity of the gospel. It attacks the miracles that our Lord worked, and it's extremely offensive," John Ritchie, the protest's organizer, told CBS News. more >>

When it comes to good parenting, Americans rank "loving" as a top characteristic. Being a "committed Christian," meanwhile, is a much less desired trait, according to a new poll by LifeWay Research.

The online poll, which surveyed 1,054 adult Americans on March 25, 2013 and provides 95 percent confidence that the sampling error does not exceed +3.1 percent, separated the results on the qualities needed for fathers and the qualities needed for mothers, as determined by the voters.

For mothers, 85 percent of respondents said that it was mandatory that they be "loving." "Supporting, " "protecting," "encouraging" and "understanding" made up the other top five choices, in that order. Fewer people chose "committed Christian" (26 percent) as a mandatory trait for good parenting than "religious" (35 percent). more >>

Twenty-one years ago Michael Rowe killed Wilfredo Colón. Today, Wilfredo's younger brother, Anthony, who was 15 at the time of the murder, is friends with Wilfredo's killer after forgiving him for the murder.

In 2006, Anthony Colón was visiting a friend who was serving time at the Eastern Correctional Facility in Ulster County, New York, when he recognized Rowe across the room. Colón got up, walked towards Rowe with an outstretched hand and a smile on his face, and said, "brother, I've been praying for you. I forgave you. I've been praying I would see you."

On June 13, 1992, 17-year-old Wilfredo Colón was shot thirteen times by three young men who were fighting over drug dealing turf. The corner on which he was shot was outside his family's apartment located at the East River Projects in Manhattan. Michael Rowe was one of those three men. Wilfredo was Anthony's older brother. more >>

Reader's Digest magazine has revealed its survey results for "The 100 Most Trusted People in America," which features actor Tom Hanks at the top of the list. Also included among those whom Americans find most trustworthy are the Rev. Billy Graham, former President Jimmy Carter and NFL player Tim Tebow.

"To understand how our trust instinct shapes our culture, we compiled a list of over 200 American opinion shapers and headline makers from 15 highly influential professions. Then we polled a nationally representative sample of over 1,000 American adults, asking them to rank each person based on trustworthiness," explains the publication.

Despite the television and movie personalities that dominate the list, the survey found that Americans tend to trust more than anyone else their doctors (77 percent), spiritual advisers (71 percent) and their children's teacher (66 percent). However, those results, which were the three highest scores on the poll, were excluded from "The 100 Most Trusted People in America" list — "to focus on the public figures who resonated with everyone," according to the magazine. more >>

A Utah T-shirt making business has refused to do an order of shirts for an atheist organization due to an objection to the message on the proposed T-shirt design.

TIKI Printing of West Valley declined the business of the group Atheists of Utah, which sought to have the Christian-owned company make them a two-sided T-shirt. The shirt would have featured the web address of Atheists of Utah on one side and the message "Gotta Be Real Cuz God Ain't."

Sam Saltzman, part owner of TIKI, told The Christian Post that his company was first contacted about the shirts last week, as Atheists of Utah wanted them for an upcoming gay rights parade. more >>

A new study conducted in the Netherlands has concluded that pornography consumption has only a small influence on risky, adventurous sexual behavior, but some U.S. experts disagree.

The study, published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine two weeks ago and highlighted in a recent report, looked at 4,600 young men and women between ages 15 and 25 living in the Netherlands. The volunteers discussed the amount and type of pornography they used as well as risky adventurous sexual experiences, like paying for sex and homosexual acts.

Only 0.3 to 4 percent of the sexual behavior of participants in the study was linked to their pornography use. more >>