Culture

Hollywood would have people believe that sex and nudity sell at the box office. But a recent study shows statistically sex scenes do not translate to ticket sales.

Dean Keith Simonton, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis and independent Vancouver-based researcher Anemone Cerridwen analyzed data for 914 films released between 2001 and 2005. Their conclusions on the effects of nudity and sex scenes on ticket sales and critical reviews were published in the latest issue of the journal of “Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts,” a publication of the American Psychological Association.

“All in all, it appears that sex may neither sell nor impress,” write the authors in their article, “Sex Doesn’t Sell – nor Impress! Content, Box Office, Critics, and Awards in Mainstream Cinema.” more >>

WASHINGTON – The world does not see a distinction between the United States and Christians, said a former humanitarian worker who served in South Asia and Africa and worked with refugees when he returned to the United States.

“America is seen to be a Christian country,” said Galen Carey, now director of governmental affairs at the National Association of Evangelicals, at the Lausanne Movement Conversation held on Capitol Hill on Friday. “So, for example, in Indonesia, a mostly Muslim country, after the tsunami people would say, ‘We thank you Christians for bringing aid,’ when they meant the Americans and to some extent the Europeans."

“So on the one hand we got credit for a lot of work we weren’t actually doing, since a lot of the agencies weren’t Christians, and on the other hand we got blamed for a lot of things we weren’t doing because the aid agencies weren’t Christian,” Carey said, drawing laughter but also nods of agreement. more >>

It’s been 37 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a woman has the constitutional right to have an abortion for any reason up until the “point at which the fetus becomes ‘viable,’” defining viability as the potential "to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid."

And though the anniversary has typically been marked by anti-abortionists – many of which believe that life begins at conception – as a time to mourn for the tens of millions of lives that have been lost, this year’s observance is taking on a notably different tone.

The Pew Research Center revealed last year that support for abortion is slipping among most demographic and political groups. more >>

Pastors across the country are repenting for the little they've been doing to address marriage needs in the church and are committing themselves to no longer stand idly by.

The blame for the high divorce rate in the United States, the increasing number of out-of-wedlock births and the falling percentage of adults getting married does not fall on secular society, they say. It falls on the church.

"The church hasn't done a good enough job," prominent evangelical Chuck Colson said Wednesday during a webinar promoting the upcoming National Marriage Week. "We can turn marriage around in America but believe me, if we are ever going to do it we've got to start with the church." more >>

Pro-God ads will hit some 1,000 subway cars throughout New York City beginning Friday, announced the New York church sponsoring the campaign.

Times Square Church, located in the heart of Times Square in New York City, will launch its ad campaign in hundreds of subway cars and on 50 platform posters in Manhattan stations at the end of this week.

Ads will boldly feature the words “God is” in the center,surrounded by words describing God’s qualities in colorful fonts. Among the “God is” attributes are: with you, willing to help, able to protect, a father, a husband to the widow, your friend, aware of your struggle, a good listener, the one who loves you, power to change, incredible, ready to forgive, there when no one else is, looking at you, Jesus. more >>