A signal event in America’s long trial over the tragedy of abortion occurred this week with the publication of a cover story in New York magazine that was simply titled, “My Abortion.” The issue is riveting, offering testimonies from women who have aborted their children—some of them repeatedly. As Meaghan Winter, author of the article, explains, “Of all the battles in our half-century culture war, perhaps none seems further from being resolved, in our laws and in our consciences, than abortion.”

“A Christmas Story” (driven by its popularity among post-Boomers) has become the quintessential American film for Christmas, replacing “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Dr. White argues that the great divide between “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “A Christmas Story” is more than just the radical individualism that marks our day as Time Magazine has suggested, but what has spawned such individualism.

The issue of human sex trafficking strikes at the very core of our families and church communities and is growing at a rapid pace throughout the world. There is a lot to be done to stop the cancer of human trafficking and exploitation of those who are vulnerable to this trap.

Local pastors face new challenges in growing their churches during the 21st century, as a new generation increasingly moves away from conventional religious structures. A Pew Research Center report from October 2012 found that nearly 20 percent of the Americans are religiously unaffiliated, up from just over 15 percent five years before. The growth of the religiously unaffiliated appears largely generational, as 32 percent of adults under 30 are religiously unaffiliated compared to only 9 percent of those 65 and older, according to the report. For today’s pastors, the challenge is how to get those young people to church.

Twitter, Facebook, eBooks, news feeds, mobile apps are all information sources that didn’t exist just a few years ago, and they are changing the way the modern consumer processes information. These digital mediums have introduced to reading and to information a whole new level of scrolling, skimming and synopsizing. Barna Group’s new study uncovers three of the trends that are redefining the information age.

They’re rarely at worship services and indifferent to doctrine. And they’re surprisingly fuzzy on Jesus. These are the Jewish Americans sketched in a new Pew Research Center survey, 62 percent of whom said Jewishness is largely about culture or ancestry and just 15 percent who said it’s about religious belief. But it’s not just Jews. It’s a phenomenon among U.S. Christians, too. Meet the “Nominals” — people who claim a religious identity but may live it in name only.

As more states permit gay couples to marry or form civil unions, wedding professionals in at least six states have run headlong into state antidiscrimination laws after refusing for religious reasons to bake cakes, arrange flowers or perform other services for same-sex couples.

Everyone has an opinion about why Millennials are leaving the church. It’s a controversial topic, one that Barna Group’s researchers have been examining for a decade.Yet whatever one’s personal view of the reasons behind Millennials staying or going, one thing is clear: the relationship between Millennials and the Church is shifting. Barna Group’s researchers have been examining Millennials’ faith development since the generation was in its teen years—that is, for about a decade.And while Barna Group’s research has previously highlighted what’s not working to keep Millennials at church, the research also illuminates what is working—and what churches can do to engage these young adults.

The percentage of Americans who say they “seldom” or “never” attend religious services (aside from weddings and funerals) has risen modestly in the past decade. Of course, how often people say they usually attend services is not necessarily the same as how often they actually do attend.

The battle over gay marriage is heating up in the states, energizing religious groups that oppose same-sex relationships — but also dividing them.