Losing Faith: 21 Percent Say Religion 'Not That Important'

According to reports one in five Americans say religion does not play an important role in their lives, a new NBC/WSJ journal poll shows – the highest percentage since the poll began asking participants about their focus on faith in 1997.

Personally, I can't imagine not praying for peace, happiness, joy, and love. I believe that we should give thanks for everything we have. How can you wake up in the morning and not thank God or the all mighty that you woke up. There are many people that close their eyes at night and not open them in the morning. Too me faith in God is just as important as brushing your teeth and taking a shower. However, twenty one percent of respondents said that religion is “not that important” to their lives, compared to 16 percent who said the same in 1999. In 1997, 14 percent of Americans said religion did not play an important role in their lives. The poll showed that these less religious Americans are more likely to be men, have an income over $75,000, to live in the Northeast or West and to be under the age of 35. More than half of Americans still place a major emphasis on their faith. Thirteen percent of respondents in the new poll said that religion is the most important aspect of their lives, and 41 percent said it is “very important.” The new numbers come as one of the world’s most famous faith leaders celebrates an important anniversary. Pope Francis now has a year under his belt at the Vatican, a Person of the Year title and even his own fan magazine. And the new data shows that he’s making American Catholics more committed to their faith. According to the NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll, six in ten Catholics agreed that the pope has “renewed and strengthened my religious faith and commitment to the Catholic Church.” Three in ten disagreed. The poll also reinforced the pope’s sky-high popularity in the United States. Fifty-five percent of adults say they have a “somewhat positive” (22 percent) or “very positive” (33 percent) view of the man previously known as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Only seven percent give him a negative rating, with another quarter of respondents saying they’re neutral. Pope Francis, who has urged a focus on humility and service to the disadvantaged, fares much better in public polling than his predecessor, Benedict the Sixteenth. In February 2013, the NBC/WSJ poll found that only 30 percent of respondents viewed Pope Benedict positively, while 17 percent said they held a negative view of him. That poll also found that more than a quarter of Americans gave poor ratings to the Catholic Church as a whole. The new pontiff’s favorability in the United States is comparable to that of Pope John Paul the Second. The famous advocate for human rights, now set for canonization, received a rating of “very positive” from 42 percent of respondents in a January 1998 poll, with an additional 23 percent saying they had a “somewhat positive” view of him.

MATT AND AMY ROLOFF, 'LITTLE PEOPLE, BIG WORLD' COUPLE, SEPARATING AFTER 26 YEARS OF MARRIAGE

The "Little People, Big World" family is dealing with some big changes this year. Matt and Amy Roloff, parents to four kids together, have decided to separate after 26 years of marriage, they announced on March 12. "Though we have weathered many storms together, we recently made the tough decision to engage in a trial separation," the couple said in a statement to Us Weekly. "Matt remains living on the farm in our guesthouse, and we work together every day on the farm, on our business endeavors, and most importantly, raising our amazing children." "We sincerely appreciate the unwavering support, understanding, and prayers from our family, friends, and many fans," the statement continued. "May God bless you." The Helvetia, Ore.-based couple's trial separation will be the focus of a new one-hour special on TLC on March 25. Filmed in the final weeks of 2013, the special shows Matt and Amy figuring out their new family dynamic as they prepare for the holidays with their children, twin sons Jeremy and Zach, 23, daughter Molly, 20, and son Jacob, 17. "Last year, it was long and tough," Matt says in a preview from the episode. "Amy and I had a lot of tensions, so right around Thanksgiving, I thought I would move over to the [guest] house for a little bit." He continues, "Amy and I stuck it out for years when maybe we shouldn't have. I never quite felt at home in my own home, so something needed to change. We needed to try something different." "I think what Matt and I failed to do over many, many years was learn to live together," Amy adds. "It's not my choice for him to leave. I am saddened by it. It's been 26 years. We don't have a plan for how we're going to work this out, so it's not going to be easy."

Louisiana inmate Glenn Ford released after 30 years on death row FOR A MURDER HE DID NOT COMMIT

Louisiana inmate Glenn Ford walked free Tuesday after 30 years on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. My mind going all kind of directions, but it feels good," Ford, now 64, told reporters immediately after his release. Asked whether he felt resentful, Ford said, "Yeah, because I was locked up almost 30 years for something I didn't do." Ford, the longest serving death row inmate, was sentenced to death in 1985 for the 1983 murder of jeweler and watchmaker Isadore Rozeman, who was killed in a shooting at his Shreveport shop. Ford had worked occasionally as his gardener, when in 1984, justice officials charged him and three other suspects in the shooting death. The other men went free, but Ford was convicted by an all-white jury -- based on witness testimony and pawn shop receipts apparently linked to items stolen from Rozeman's shop. Ford's attorneys, Gary Clements and Aaron Novod, said his original trial "profoundly compromised by inexperienced counsel and by the unconstitutional suppression of evidence at his trial, including information from an informant, a suppressed police report related to the time of the crime and evidence of the murder weapon, which implicated the true perpetrator." According to an order signed by District Judge Ramona Emanuel, undisclosed evidence had come to light, "supporting a finding that Glenn Ford was neither present at, nor a participant in, the robbery and murder of Isadore Rozeman." Assistant District Attorney Dale Cox said Rozeman's murder is now an "unsolved homicide."

Jonathan Martin traded to San Francisco 49ers

Jonathan Martin got a shot at a fresh start in the NFL when the Miami Dolphins traded the offensive tackle at the heart of the Miami Dolphins’ locker-room harassment scandal to the San Francisco 49ers on Tuesday night, just hours after NFL free agency began. The move will reunite Martin, 24, with the man who coached him at Stanford, Jim Harbaugh, and gives him probably his best chance at succeeding in the league. In exchange for Martin, the Dolphins will receive a conditional draft pick that would be a seventh-rounder in 2015 if Martin makes the 53-man roster next summer. Martin, who is from Northern California, was thrilled with the news, quickly changing his Twitter background to the 49ers’ logo and tweeted that it was “a great day.” After an independent investigation found that Martin was subjected to a pattern of harassment in the locker room by the Dolphins’ Richie Incognito, John Jerry and Mike Pouncey, it became clear that it was in the best interests of Martin and the Dolphins to make a move. Owner Stephen Ross was instrumental in the trade, the Miami Herald reports, and wanted to send Martin to the right place for him. “We feel that this move is in the best interests of all parties involved,” Dolphins General Manager Dennis Hickey said (via the Herald). “We wish Jonathan well.” Harbaugh was interviewed by Ted Wells, the man who led the NFL investigation into the bullying allegations that Martin said drove him into such a deep depression that he considered suicide. “[Harbaugh] told us that he had never doubted Martin’s tenacity, work ethic and dedication to the game, and that he had never seen Martin exhibit problems with social adjustment,” Wells’s report stated. “Coach Harbaugh told us he believed that Martin likely could continue to have a successful career in the NFL. It appears that Martin was up to the challenge of dealing with physical or verbal intimidation by opposing players during NFL games, but fell victim, at least in part, to persistent taunting from his own teammates.”

Rosie Perez Opens Up About Traumatic Childhood In Memoir

Rosie Perez has never been known to keep quiet, but the Puerto Rican actress was never truly outspoken about her traumatic past until now. Known for her spitfire personality and for breaking barriers for Latinas in the entertainment industry during the 1980s, Perez, 49, said in a recent interview with Fox News Latino that she is now ready to share her story in her new memoir, Handbook for an Unpredictable Life. While recent headlines have focused on what the Oscar-nominated star wrote concerning her infamous feud with Jennifer Lopez during their work together on "In Living Color," the Brooklyn-born actress says the book is truly about how she dealt with her difficult early years. For the record "I saw her and knew right away she had star quality and recommended her to Keenen Ivory Wayans. That's how she got her start" and I love her.

"The bigger issue of the book is surviving childhood," Perez told Fox. "The moral is really, how do you not allow your past to completely define you as an adult? And how do you not allow the emotional responses that served to protect you as a child [to] dictate your emotional responses today?" In her book, released in late February, Perez vividly describes the psychological and physical abuse she endured at the hands of her schizophrenic mother, as well as some of the nuns at the orphanage where her mother eventually left her. In time, Perez found success as a choreographer and actress, starring in such hits as "White Men Can't Jump" and "Do The Right Thing." Today, the Puerto Rican actress is also focused on her activism. She was chosen as part of President Barack Obama's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS in 2010. She also heads the community organization Urban Arts Partnership, which promotes the arts in New York City classrooms. "We're always encouraging the kids to open up and tell us their stories, so they can get through the difficulties they face on a daily basis," Perez said about the moment she realized she needed to open up about her past. "One day one of the kids said, 'Well Ms. Perez, what's your story?' and I froze. I felt like such a hypocrite because I kept it a secret for so long. That's when my heart started opening up and I felt a little bit lighter. Then I started telling it bit by bit to other people, and when the book offer came my way, I was ready." Last month, Perez also spoke to Belinda Luscombe, Time magazine's editor-at-large, about Handbook and about how she felt when she was diagnosed as an adult with post-traumatic stress disorder caused by her experiences as a child. "First of all, being diagnosed sucked," Perez told Luscombe. "Initially it wasn't a relief. I wanted to believe that I was above all that had happened, all that had gone down. And when a licensed professional doctor said 'No, you have PTSD,' it was kind of like 'Oh my goodness, I'm human.' I didn't have that much control over my emotional response, the way I thought I did. And then there was this big sigh and it was like a weight was lifted off of me."

Kobe Bryant to be shut down for rest of season

As originally thought to be just a small bump in the road. While playing himself back into game shape recovering from a torn Achilles, Kobe Bryant was having one of his best games. He felt good. It was a positive sign, an encouraging outing against one of the NBA's top defenders, Tony Allen.

What Bryant thought was just a hyperextension of his left knee on Dec. 17 in Memphis ended up being a fracture. Still the timetable was a month -- six weeks at the most -- for him to return to the lineup. It has been almost three months, and Bryant still has not seen the floor coping with a rehab process that has been "slow." It appears his return won't be happening anytime soon as the five-time NBA champion is expected to be shut down for the rest of the season, according to Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report. Bryant will not travel with the team for road games to Oklahoma City and San Antonio this week and will be re-evaluated by Dr. Steve Lombardo, according to the report by Ding. Bryant originally said he would like to return this season. But as the wheels continued to fall off the Lakers wagon, many questioned would it make sense for the 35-year-old star to return and log more miles for a team that is headed for the lottery. It appears now Bryant has no choice. The Lakers (22-42) have 18 games remaining in the 2013-14 season. The team is coming off arguably its most impressive win of the season, a 114-110 come-from-behind effort against the Thunder. Leading the way was Jodie Meeks with a career-high 42 points which is also the most points scored in a game by a Laker this season. It also speaks to just how different a year this has been for one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports. Bryant has played in only six games this season and averaged 13.8 points per game. It's the first time since the 2001-02 season that a player not named Kobe Bryant will lead the team in scoring. If the season were to end today, that honor would go to Pau Gasol and his 17.7 points per game. Bryant is expected to once again be the centerpiece of the Lakers next season on a team that could look drastically different. Bryant, after signing a two-year extension earlier this season, is one of just five players on the current roster signed through next season. He's joined by Steve Nash, Robert Sacre, Nick Young who has a player option for next season, and Kendall Marshall who has a team option for 2014-15. Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak has gone on record saying he expects Young to opt out. If so, that would only add to the plethora of cap space the team will have this summer to go along with a healthy Bryant and what they hope will be a top draft pick as the building blocks for next season.

Jerry Sandusky's wife: Victims 'were manipulated, and they saw money'

Dottie Sandusky, Jerry Sandusky’s wife of 37 years, maintains that her husband is innocent of the charges of child sex abuse that resulted in his imprisonment.

“Do I believe him?’’ she told Matt Lauer. “I definitely believe him. Because if I didn't believe him, when I testified at trial, I could have not said what I said. I would have had to tell the truth.” She believes the victims' financial gain was at play. “I think it was, they were manipulated, and they saw money,’’ she said. “Once lawyers came into the case, they said there was money.” Sandusky spoke with Lauer on TODAY in her first TV interview since her husband was convicted on 45 of 48 charges of sexual abuse of young boys in June 2012. She was joined by filmmaker John Ziegler in her State College, Penn. home. Lauer asked Dottie if she believed her husband was guilty of inappropriate behavior with some of the young boys who have accused him. “I don't believe that,’’ she said. “I believe he showered with kids. That’s the generation that Jerry grew up in....There were always people coming in and out no matter what time that was.” “I fully acknowledge, I would not do it in a million years, nor would I recommend anyone do it in a million years, especially in 2014,’’ Ziegler said about the showering. “But that's not what Jerry Sandusky is in prison for. That's not why he's probably going to die in prison and has had his pension taken away. That's not why Joe Paterno was unjustly fired and three Penn State administrators are facing losing their freedom over this case.”

Lauer mentioned a story in the Washington Post in which Melinda Henneberger wrote, "It's a shame that Dottie Sandusky doesn't have a cell of her own next to her notorious husband. We know that predators prey on the more vulnerable. They also tend to choose spouses who can be counted on to suppress any unpleasant ideas that might occur to them." "I'm not a weak spouse,'' she replied. "As you know...they call me 'Sarge' because Jerry said I kept everybody in line. If they want to say that, let them say that. I know who I am. And I know who Jerry is. And I know he did not do the horrible crimes that he's convicted of. "That's one thing I was taught by my parents. And that's something that we've taught our kids, to always be truthful." Sandusky said she did not block out the crimes in her mind. “No, because there was nothing that went on,’’ she said. “Because I was here. I will take you downstairs and let you see the basement. It is not a dungeon. It is not what those kids said. You can scream, and you can hear it up to the second floor.” One of the victims said that he screamed while being sexually abused by Sandusky in the house's basement and Dottie never came to see what was going on. She pointed out the small size of the house, and told Lauer she never heard anyone “because he didn’t scream.” Sandusky took Lauer on a tour of the basement, pointing out its proximity to the rest of the house. "It's not a dungeon," she said. Ziegler, who runs a website called FramingPaterno.com, has frequently spoken out about his belief that Paterno, the late Penn State coach who was fired in the wake of the Sandusky scandal, and other school officials did nothing wrong. “I presumed, like a lot of people, that Dottie has to be delusional or not understand the case,’’ Ziegler said. “I'm certain of one thing above everything else after two years of investigating this case, and that is that Dottie Sandusky is not delusional. She knows the case better than the vast majority of media members, and she is positive that Jerry Sandusky is innocent.” She visits her husband once a week at a maximum security prison in Waynesburg, Penn., a three-hour drive from her home. She said Jerry Sandusky spends 23 hours a day in his cell, with one hour outside in the yard while inside a cage or handcuffed. “Most of the guards, he says, are nice to him,’’ she said. “I guess they don't understand Jerry's a happy person, and he smiles, and he tries to make people laugh. He said, ‘I'm in the situation I'm in, and I'm gonna make the best I can out of it.’’’ Following the trial, one juror noted that Jerry did not react when the verdict was read in the courtroom. “He’s not a show person,’’ his wife said. “He said, ‘I just did not want to make a show. He’s a person that can keep his emotions under control. I’m sure once he left that courtroom, he was a different person.” Sandusky also spoke about the changes she has seen in her husband since his imprisonment. "A friend had written to him and asked him what he missed — what did he take most for granted — and he said family meals, fun time with the grandkids playing ball, (and) doing special things with friends,'' Sandusky said tearfully. Jerry, she said, remains hopeful for an appeal. In January 2013, a judge denied his request for a new trial.

2 Dead, 22 Hurt, Others Missing in NYC Building Collapse

Two people are dead, 22 are hurt and others are missing after two buildings collapsed following an apparent explosion triggered by a gas leak that rattled upper Manhattan on Wednesday morning.

The two five-story buildings at the northwest corner of 116th Street and Park Avenue in Harlem collapsed around 9:30 a.m., sources tell NBC 4 New York. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters at the scene that there are a "number of missing individuals" and every effort would be made to verify their safety and whereabouts. "From what we know now, the only indication of danger came 15 minutes earlier when a gas leak was reported to ConEd," the mayor said. "The explosion happened before that team arrived." "This is a tragedy of the worst kind, because there was no indication in time to save people," de Blasio said. Smoke billowed into Central Park and could be seen from miles away in midtown, and New Yorkers said they felt rumbles as far away as 10th Street. Closer to the collapse, groceries were knocked from store shelves and debris floated through the air. City officials said the buildings are destroyed. The cause of the apparent explosion is not known; members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force have responded to the scene out of an abundance of caution, authorities said. "I thought a train had exploded," said Marisa Aquino, who was at her apartment on 115th Street between Park and Lexington. "There are a ton of firefighters and a lot of smoke. Cops and first responders are everywhere." "It sounded like a bomb. That's what it really sounded like," Trey Dey, a laborer who was working in a nearby basement when the buildings exploded, told NBC 4 New York. One real estate website lists one of the buildings as having six residential units and one commercial space. Metro-North service has been suspended out of Grand Central because of debris on tracks.

Heroin overdoses pose 'urgent public health crisis': U.S. attorney general

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said his agency was stepping up efforts to stem sharp increases in deadly heroin overdoses, trafficking in the drug and abuse of prescription narcotics at the root of what he called an "urgent public health crisis."

As part of that campaign, Holder reiterated the Obama administration's call for more law enforcement agencies to train and equip personnel with an overdose-reversal medication called naloxone. The director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy issued a similar plea to police and fire departments last month. Holder said 17 states and the District of Columbia have amended their laws to increase access to naloxone, a blocking agent that can reverse the effects of an overdose and help restore breathing. He said emergency use of naloxone had resulted in more than 10,000 overdose reversals since 2001. Still, fatal heroin overdoses have increased 45 percent from 2006 to 2010, with 3,038 such deaths reported that year, and the numbers are believed to still be on the rise, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The rising level of heroin use in recent years stems from a corresponding epidemic in the abuse of prescription opiate-based painkillers, such as oxycodone, DEA officials say. Deaths from overdoses of such drugs numbered more than 16,600 in 2010. Many individuals who start out abusing oxycodone turn eventually to heroin as they build up a tolerance to the pain pills and find that they can buy heroin far more cheaply than prescription medications on the black market, experts say. Meanwhile, trafficking in heroin, the bulk of it smuggled into the United States from Mexico, has climbed in conjunction with increasing demand. "When confronting the problem of substance abuse, it makes sense to focus attention on the most dangerous types of drugs. And right now, few substances are more lethal than prescription opiates and heroin," Holder said in a video message posted on Monday on the Justice Department's website. Holder said the DEA was leading a federal enforcement crackdown, and cited a 320 percent increase in the amount of heroin seized by U.S. authorities along the U.S.-Mexico border between 2008 and 2013. The federal government also is enlisting the help of physicians, teachers, police and community leaders to boost support for substance abuse education, prevention and treatment, Holder said. He said the DEA was focusing such efforts in regions experiencing a particularly high incidence of heroin abuse, such as in northern Ohio, where numbers of heroin-related deaths had recently jumped four-fold. National attention on heroin abuse was riveted by the case of acclaimed actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who was found dead from an accidental drug overdose in his Manhattan apartment last month, a needle still in his arm. An autopsy determined the performer succumbed to acute intoxication from a mixture of heroin, cocaine and other drugs in his system.

Master chef Judge Graham Elliot Loses Nearly 150 Pounds

After undergoing a sleeve gastrectomy at the University of Chicago Medical Center, the MasterChef judge and has lost a whopping 147 lbs. “I thought it would take two or three years to do this,” admits Elliot, 37, who now weighs 253 lbs. after tipping the scales at nearly 400 lbs. at one point. “I thought I’d lose 60 or 70 pounds the first year.”

He requests that his dressing room on the MasterChef set is filled with almonds, dried fruit and seaweed chips instead of the usual sweets. “In the past I would get stressed and ask craft services for cookies and candy,” says Elliot, who is currently in Los Angeles filming the upcoming season of the hit cooking competition show. “But now I know my stomach is the size of a banana and I need to have food that just gives me energy. So I can either have a moment of sweetness but feel really bad or I can order something delicious and light like sashimi.” The perks of his healthy transformation include wearing the same size jeans he did during his freshmen year in high school (that’s a size 36!), finally flying without wearing a seatbelt extender and losing the sleep apnea machine he’s had to use since 2005. “That’s life-changing,” he tells PEOPLE. “It was like being chained to the bed — not being able to lean over and hug [my wife] Allie or snuggle with my kids [Mylo, 7, Conrad, 3, and Jedidiah, 18 months] — because I have a huge mask on my face. Once my machine broke and I had to stay up for 48 hours because I physically couldn’t sleep for five minutes without gasping for air.” Elliot believes his personality has changed too. “I’m more assertive but in a positive way,” explains the chef, who recently opened his newest restaurant Primary Food & Drink in Greenwich, Conn. “I’m still the comedian but in meetings I’m a little more in command and not afraid that if I say something wrong, someone is going to call me fat. And really that’s what has taken control of my life since high school.” But no question, making his three boys proud is the absolute best benefit. “At my son Mylo’s birthday in January, we were all running around playing tag with his friends,” recalls Elliot. “He was telling them, ‘My Dad is the fastest one here. He can beat us in a race.’ That was awesome!”