Study after study has shown that Americans are falling out of love with organized religion, with a recent Gallup poll finding that "the church and organized religion is losing its footing as a pillar of moral leadership in the nation's culture." But that doesn't mean that Americans aren't searching for a sense of spirituality in an organized setting.

Amidst the pain that surrounded the recent church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, a heated discussion erupted over the nature of a symbol that has come to be synonymous with Southern culture: The battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. “Put it in a museum,” The Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote the day after the shootings.

FILE - In this Aug. 10, 2004 file photo, President George W. Bush, left, is introduced by his brother Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, right, at 'Ask President Bush' campaign rally, at Okaloosa-Walton Community College Gymnasium in Niceville, Fla. President George W. Bush is giving even odds to an attempt at a family legacy as part of the 2016 White House campaign, saying Sunday Nov. 9, 2014 on “Face the Nation” on CBS his brother Jeb Bush is “wrestling with the decision.”.

Mortal Kombat X, the latest release in the notoriously violent Mortal Kombat video game franchise, was released last week — and apparently it's really, really violent. Mortal Kombat X, the latest release in the notoriously violent Mortal Kombat video game franchise, was released last week, and it's gotten some squeamish reviews.

In 2001, journalist and researcher Douglas Rushkoff decided to dive deep into the heart of how marketers target teens. The result was a Frontline PBS special titled “The Merchants of Cool.”. The documentary covered an impressive amount of early aughts ground: Mooks, midriffs and juggalos were examined in their natural habitats, telling Rushkoff what they do, and do not, think qualifies as cool.

The overt mixture of politics and religion has a habit of catching pundits off-guard. “Faith and government shouldn’t be as cozy as they are in this country,” The New York Times’ Frank Bruni wrote on February 14, commenting primarily on former Texas governor Rick Perry's call for prayer to combat wildfires in 2012.

In the three months since Larry Wilmore took over the post-Daily Show time slot on Comedy Central, his program, titled “The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore,” has slipped with ease into its role as the antidote to an all-white late night lineup. But while most of the attention around “The Nightly Show” is rightly centered on the program’s unique capacity to talk about race, Wilmore’s show (which is produced by his lead-in, Jon Stewart) has also positioned itself, rather surprisingly, as a unique forum for discussing family life.

Onetime presidential candidate Mitt Romney has practically made a career of denying a 2016 candidacy on cable news networks. "I'm not running," the former Massachusetts governor said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" last May. "I'm not running, I'm not planning on running and I've got nothing new on that story," he reiterated in an interview with Bloomberg News.

A Muslim woman releases a dove as a symbol of peace during a rally against the Islamic State group, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, Sept. 5, 2014. The banner reads: "ISIS is not Islam's voice. Stop Killing journalist." A Muslim woman releases a dove as a symbol of peace during a rally against the Islamic State group, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, Sept. 5, 2014.

There has been an explosion in the number of third party candidacies for Congress in Utah over the last few decades. After years of political obscurity, libertarianism is finally having its day, at least according to The New York Times’ Robert Draper. “Libertarians, who long have relished their role as acerbic sideline critics of American political theater, now find themselves and their movement thrust into the middle of it,” he wrote as part of the August cover for The New York Times Magazine.

Debating who deserves the arbitrary title of “The Greatest Living Band in the World” is futile, principally because tying down such a subjective distinction on a group that all music fans agree with is impossible. There is, however, a canon of contenders. Whether judged by influence, record sales, concert revenue or critical acclaim, certain bands routinely appear atop examinations of "The Best Ever."

July 29 marked the release of Darron Aronofsky's controversial biblical epic "Noah" on DVD. While the film received mixed reviews from believers and atheists alike, one scene in particular — the film's depiction of the creation — piqued some interest in both circles. "The construction of the universe nods to the Big Bang theory and shows Darwinian evolution from fish to primates through single picture clips that simply blow the mind," The Huffington Post's Ryan Kristobak wrote in reaction to a clip of the scene.