Change in giving to religious organizations and churches in 2008: +5.5 percent (a total of $106.89 billion)

Change in overall charitable giving in 2008: –2 percent (a total of $307.65 billion, the first decline in overall giving since 1987)

In light of the economic crisis of 2009, researchers asked 695 U.S. parents to identify their top priorities:

• Fifty-four percent said their children's health care
• Twenty-five percent said housing
• Eleven percent said food and groceries
• Six percent said their own and their spouse's health care
• The remaining participants listed other items.

During one of the most volatile periods of the current economic crisis—a week in which global stock markets declined by $7 trillion—Philip Yancey received a call from an editor at Time magazine. The editor's question was simple: "How should a person pray during a crisis like this?" Here is a summary of what Yancey shared in response:

The first stage is simple, an instinctive cry: "Help!" ...

In light of the economic crisis, SnagAJob.com asked 691 out-of-work adults (18 and older) the following question: Has your layoff been a blessing in disguise? The majority of those surveyed offered a positive response:

• Thirty-nine percent said being laid off has been a blessing.
• Sixteen percent said they feel it will become a blessing.
• Forty percent said it was not a blessing.
• Four percent said they didn't know yet.

Once when I was at the University of Notre Dame we had an extraordinary snowstorm. They get a lot of snow in South Bend because it's on the wrong side of the lake—every time a wind blows across Lake Michigan, the moisture gets dumped on South Bend. We were used to snow in the winter. But this particular time, we got thirty-six inches in twelve hours. It literally shut the city down. We couldn't ...

In his book The Cell's Design: How Chemistry Reveals the Creator's Artistry, Fanzale Rana gives the following account of the approach used to authenticate a piece of artwork by Picasso, often referred to as The Unknown Masterpiece:

In the early 1970s, a junk dealer came across five ink drawings while clearing out a deceased woman's apartment in London. He hung onto them for several years, [and then] ...

The 2009 economic crisis brought an interesting phrase into the headlines: toxic assets. Toxic assets are one of the factors contributing to the trouble that banks are in now. The assets are loans. Somebody owes the banks money. Normally banks want people to owe them money and pay them interest on the principal. But as the economy now stands, especially with the mortgage foreclosure crisis, many of ...

On the surface, it sounds like a healthy company was rewarding its best and brightest. Over 400 employees recently received bonuses. Three-fourths of the company received more than $100,000. Fifty-one employees received $1 to $2 million; fifteen received more that $2 million, and six received $4 million. The highest bonus stood at $6.4 million.

Bonuses, [$165 million in bonuses.]

But these bonuses were ...

At or around 7:46 A.M. on Tuesday, October 17, 2006, the 300 millionth American citizen was born. It was an exciting morning for our nation, and for the families of dozens of babies born at that time across the country. Of course, the 300 millionth baby is really just one of the 2.8 million people added to the U.S. each year, making the United States the fastest-growing industrialized country in the ...

Psychologists have found an intriguing way to study what it is that we really like and dislike. It's called "affective priming." They print a word over a bouncing dot on a computer screen. If people's response is positive, they push any key with their left hand; if negative—any key with their right.

Too discover our deeper responses, researchers will use subliminal stimulation. They'll print ...