When the clock strikes midnight this Saturday, the U.S. population will have hit 312.8 million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Is the nation's population in danger of getting out of control?

In 2006, Jack Martin and Stanley Fogel of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) wrote a report titled "Projecting the U.S. Population to 2050: Four Immigration Scenarios." Martin and Fogel predicted that, if the issue of illegal immigration remained unchecked, "we likely will be facing the prospect of a population in 2050 of half a billion people."

At the same time, FAIR predicted that, "If current proposals to increase immigration, give legal status to those currently here illegally, and create a new guest worker program were adopted," the country’s population would reach one billion people by the end of the century. more >>

The newly discovered Comet Lovejoy provided quite a light show earlier this week as if on cue for Christmas, giving NASA’s International Space Station commander a story to tell that left even the seasoned astronaut in awe.

The comet, which was discovered by amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy in early December, was viewed by astronauts in the space station and described as leaving “a sliver of blue and purple and then there was this long, green arc.”

When discovered, scientists did not expect Comet Lovejoy to survive the sun’s searing heat as it passed through its corona last week. more >>

The Shroud of Turin, which many believe to be the burial robe of Jesus Christ – is likely to be authentic in nature, Italian scientists have recently claimed.

The ancient 14-foot long piece of cloth is said to hold remarkable imprints of a crucified man with long hair and a bearded face. However, critics insist the shroud in question is a forgery created in the Middle Ages, somewhere between 1260 and 1390.

Radiocarbon tests conducted in 1988 in Arizona, Oxford and Zurich seemed to prove that theory to be true, but were disputed due to claims that fibers from the cloth were used around that time period simply to repair the shroud, which would explain the skewed findings, The Telegraph reported. more >>

California-based evangelical research organization Barna Group named the changing role of Christianity as one of its “Top Trends of 2011.”

The category of “Changing Role of Christianity” focused on what the Barna Group described as the American struggle “to determine how faith, Christianity and church fit into contemporary life.”

A November survey found over 40 percent of Americans could not name an American leader they considered an “influential Christian.” And an April survey on religious pluralism found that 50 percent of Americans believe that “all people are eventually saved or accepted by God, no matter what they do.” more >>

I met Christopher Hitchens when we participated in a public debate on the existence of God and the relevance of faith nearly three years ago. Hitchens was one of the best-known atheists in the world. Before his death last Thursday, I often wondered how I would respond if given another opportunity to engage him.

His brother had that chance. Peter Hitchens shared his older brother's atheism until returning several years ago to the faith they abandoned. In The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me To Faith, he describes eloquently this ideological journey. He makes some persuasive points in debating Christopher's anti-theism. And he portrays a détente with his estranged brother that grew into a genuine relationship – ironically, the result of their public debate three years ago.

My own experience with Christopher Hitchens was nothing like what I expected. Our debate was a panel discussion including Lee Strobel, William Lane Craig, and Douglas Wilson. It was not my first encounter with Hitchens. A year earlier, Tyndale published Wrestling With God, my defense of the reasonableness and relevance of Christian faith. Hitchens' bestseller, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, formed the substance of a chapter and part of an appendix. more >>

When most Americans hear the word “eugenics” what probably comes to mind is a doctor wearing an SS uniform.

Sadly, as I have said before however, the Third Reich learned much of what it knew about eugenics from Americans. It was Americans who showed the Nazis it was legally possible to prevent the “wrong kind of people” from reproducing.” And it was Americans who launched what journalist Edwin Black called the “war against the weak,” a war that was supposed to have ended with the fall of the Third Reich.

Except that it didn’t, as a recent New York Times story made frighteningly clear. The story was about North Carolina’s debate on how to compensate the victims of its mandatory sterilization program. Between 1933 and 1977, the state sterilized an estimated 7,600 people, almost entirely on the basis of social workers’ say-so. more >>