Some questions we ask today would simply baffle our ancestors. When Christians ask whether believers should practice yoga, they are asking a question that betrays the strangeness of our current cultural moment - a time in which yoga seems almost mainstream in America.

It was not always so. No one tells the story of yoga in America better than Stefanie Syman, whose recent book, The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America, is a masterpiece of cultural history. Syman, an engaging author who is also a fifteen-year devotee of yoga, tells this story well.

Her book actually opens with a scene from this year’s annual White House Easter Egg Roll. President Barack Obama made a few comments and then introduced First Lady Michelle Obama, who said: “Our goal today is just to have fun. We want to focus on activity, healthy eating. We’ve got yoga, we’ve got dancing, we’ve got storytelling, we’ve got Easter-egg decorating.” more >>

The images streaming in from Haiti look like scenes from Dante's Inferno. The scale of the calamity is unprecedented. In many ways, Haiti has almost ceased to exist.

The earthquake that will forever change that nation came as subterranean plates shifted about six miles under the surface of the earth, along a fault line that had threatened trouble for centuries. But no one saw a quake of this magnitude coming. The 7.0 quake came like a nightmare, with the city of Port-au-Prince crumbling, entire villages collapsing, bodies flying in the air and crushed under mountains of debris. Orphanages, churches, markets, homes, and government buildings all collapsed. Civil government has virtually ceased to function. Without power, communication has been cut off and rescue efforts are seriously hampered. Bodies are piling up, hope is running out, and help, though on the way, will not arrive in time for many victims.

Even as boots are finally hitting the ground and relief efforts are reaching the island, estimates of the death toll range as high as 500,000. Given the mountainous terrain and densely populated villages that had been hanging along the fault line, entire villages may have disappeared. The Western Hemisphere's most impoverished nation has experienced a catastrophe that appears almost apocalyptic. more >>

Controversial charismatic Pat Robertson has put his foot in his mouth with yet another post-disaster remark – this time regarding the hard-hit country of Haiti.

While hosting “The 700 Club” on the Christian Broadcasting Network Wednesday, Robertson said the 7.0-magnitude quake that struck Haiti a day earlier was the consequence of the curse that had befallen the country’s people after its founding fathers made a “pact to the Devil” in exchange for Haiti’s independence from France.

“[E]ver since they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor,” Robertson said. more >>

The latest installment in the vampire movie series “Twilight” is a “deviant moral vacuum,” according to the Vatican.

In “New Moon,” British actor Robert Pattinson returns as the blood-sucking vampire Edward Cullence, whose personal relationship with human teenager Bella Swan has captivated young adults around the world.

As of this month, the novel series has sold over 85 million copies worldwide. The latest movie adaptation, meanwhile, has already broken box office records as the highest single-day earner after pulling in $62.2 million on its opening day. more >>

This is part of a series of articles about the life and ideas of Dr. Ralph D. Winter, whose memorial service will be held this Sunday, June 28. Winter, the co-founder of the U.S. Center for World Mission, passed away on May 20, 2009, after a long battle with cancer. He was 84.

PASADENA Calif. – Dr. Ralph D. Winter, his wife Roberta, and his secretary Prudence had only about $100 in cash when they placed a bid for the $15 million campus of Pasadena College in California in 1976.

The educational institution of the Church of the Nazarene, which had recently been renamed to Point Loma College, was trying to sell the campus after having purchased a new and larger campus in San Diego three years earlier, in 1973. more >>

For the third consecutive year, a children's book about a gay penguin couple trying to hatch an egg tops a list of the most "challenged" library books.

And Tango Makes Three, released in 2005 and written by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, remained at the top of the latest report by American Library Association (ALA) that identifies which books have received the most complaints challenging its content.

The award-winning tale draws on the real-life story of Roy and Silo, two chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo in New York. The book, published for children ages 4-8, says the two penguins sleep together and attempt to make a nest like other boy and girl penguin couples. more >>