WASHINGTON – As the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on two cases pertaining to the definition of marriage this week, thousands from both sides demonstrated and marched at the National Mall and outside the Supreme Court building on Tuesday.

March for Marriage, an event that began at the National Mall on Tuesday morning, was sponsored by several groups that support defining marriage as being between one man and one woman. The event featured numerous speakers, Contemporary Christian Music, and hundreds, if not thousands, of people from many parts of the country.

Dr. Jim Garlow, senior pastor at Skyline Wesleyan Church of San Diego, Calif., and a speaker at the March, told The Christian Post that he felt the event "helps people to see that there are people of decency, people of goodness, of biblical truth that are willing to stand up and resist the onslaught that would attack the family and attack the institution of marriage." more >>

The feminists have ratcheted up the laws against men to such an outrageous level that paternity fraud is not just ignored, but routinely rubber stamped by the courts. Whether one agrees with the concept of child support or not, virtually everyone can agree that jailing men for child support over children who are not theirs is morally wrong. Men are routinely sent to jail for falling behind on paying child support, even though debtors' prisons in the U.S. were mostly eliminated in the mid-nineteenth century.

The family courts and laws are set up in such a way that makes it very easy for a mother to collect child support, and very difficult for a man to avoid it. If a couple was married, the default law is that the man will be required to pay child support for any child born while they were married. In order for a man who isn't the father to escape this outcome, he must obtain a paternity test and take a series of legal steps in court. Most states only allow a short window of time for a man to do this. If a man is not aware of the child, which he may not be if his wife or former wife doesn't notify him of the child right away, he loses all chance to fight the child support, and will be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars for the next 18 years until the child becomes an adult.

Courts routinely order these judgments even if the man is unaware what is going on. A March 2003 Urban Institute study commissioned by the California Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) found that "most noncustodial parents appear to be served by 'substitute' service, rather than personal service, which suggests that noncustodial parents may not know that they have been served." more >>

Boy Scouts leaders and parents are announcing the launch of a national coalition on Saturday to keep openly gay individuals out of the organization even as the Boy Scouts of America is scheduled to decide in May whether or not to allow open homosexuality.

Parents, Scoutmasters, Eagle Scouts and other Scouting leaders from across the country, who are supportive of the BSA's no openly gay membership policy, will announce the launch of a national organization and a coalition of concerned BSA members in Orlando, Fla.

Saturday's press event on the sidewalk areas outside of the Bob Carr Auditorium will immediately follow the Central Florida Council's Town Hall Meeting in Orlando, which will be attended by BSA CEO Wayne Brock and National Commissioner Tico Perez. more >>

Editor's Note: There are two parts to this story: an interview with Ryan Shook and an interview with Josh Shook, co-authors of the new book Firsthand: Ditching Secondhand Religion for a Faith of Your Own. Below is the interview with Josh Shook.

Two brothers in their early twenties, whose parents are New York Times best-selling authors Kerry and Chris Shook, founders of Woodlands Church, a megachurch near Houston, are receiving high praises for their book about breaking free of their "second-hand religion."

After years of going to church, following the rules and trying to replicate the faith of their church-planting parents, Josh (22) and Ryan (23) Shook felt like the religion of their upbringing no longer made sense, explained publishers writing about Firsthand: Ditching Secondhand Religion for a Faith of Your Own. They continued, "Everything they had been taught began to feel flimsy and fake, leading to a personal crisis of faith that turned them away from God to partying, endless video-game playing, and an addiction to pornography. more >>

Editor's Note:  There are two parts to this story: an interview with Ryan Shook and an interview with Josh Shook, co-authors of the new book Firsthand: Ditching Secondhand Religion for a Faith of Your Own.  Below is the interview with Ryan Shook.  

Twenty-three-year-old Ryan Shook grew up in church knowing all the "good Christian kid" answers. The son of New York Times best-selling authors Kerry and Chris Shook, founders of Woodlands Church, a megachurch near Houston, says his faith "worked" for him until he entered high school. At that point, he said he was faced with criticism, rejection, isolation, and insecurity.

Earlier this week, Shook and his brother Josh (22) released their book, Firsthand: Ditching Secondhand Religion for a Faith of Your Own. The book about breaking free from "secondhand religion" is receiving high marks from well-known Christian leaders. more >>

In an open letter that has hit home with online readers and been shared thousands of times, Ann Voskamp, best-selling author of One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are and a mother of four sons, writes how the attitudes surrounding the Steubenville rape case go beyond sports and alcohol and are present even in churches.

Voskamp writes in a letter addressed to her eldest son on her A Holy Experience blog how the Steubenville, Ohio, rape case makes it necessary to have "a conversation with sons about hard things and asking you to do holy things." The blog, titled "After Steubenville: 25 Things Our Sons need to know about Manhood," has resonated with many readers, including spoken word artist Jefferson Bethke, who called the letter "heartwrenching but beautiful" and "powerful."

On Sunday, a judge found Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond, both high school football players, guilty of raping an intoxicated 16-year-old with much of the evidence in the case coming from texts messages and cell phone pictures, including one showing the victim naked, shared by Steubenville High School students who essentially documented the crime. more >>