In 1988, Mother Teresa and James Lovelock, advocate of the Gaia hypothesis, got into an argument at Oxford University’s Global Forum for Survival. [The doctrine of Gaia, most famously represented in Rosemary Ruether’s book Gaia and God: An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing, argues that male domination of women and male domination of nature are interconnected. She defines “sin” as wrong relationships among human beings and between them and the rest of nature that foster not just economic and political injustice and racism and sexism, but also the destruction of the entire created order. The Gaia hypothesis centers on the thesis that the earth is a living creature. The theory, in fact, imputes a kind of divine power to the Earth.

Historically, America has been known as a nation of committed workers: Phrases such as “rugged individualism,” “pulling oneself up by one’s boot straps,” and the much maligned “Protestant work ethic” are rarely used today. One obvious reason is that America has moved from being an industrial economy to a more service-based economy. Besides, with the COVID pandemic, more people are working from their homes than ever. But the pandemic has also produced what has become known as the “Great Resignation.” Apparently, millions of people have quit working completely.

Having children through surrogacy is increasingly common in the United States, especially the practice of paying women to carry a baby for you. But, other than the United States, only a few countries (e.g., India, Thailand, Ukraine, Mexico) permit paid surrogacy, but even these countries are rethinking the procedure. Thus, there is a significant and growing number of people—generally affluent people—who are coming to the US from Europe, Asia and Australia to have a child via surrogacy. But there are legal and ethical messes that arise in a surrogacy market that is largely unregulated.

Most Americans are anxiously awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision on the Mississippi case (Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization), which will most likely be handed down in late June 2022. The impact this decision will have on abortion in America was the topic of Issues in Perspective for 8 January 2022. This edition of Issues gives focus to a number of presuppositions related to the volatile ethical issue of abortion.

“What are your pronouns?” Such a seemingly innocuous question actually manifests the fanatical nature of radical gender ideology. As evolutionary biologist Colin Wright demonstrates, “pronouns are now frequently displayed prominently in social-media bios, email signatures and conference name tags . . . there are singular ‘they/them’ pronouns used by ‘nonbinary’ people who identify as neither male nor female, as well as a growing list of bespoke ‘neopronouns’ such as ‘ze/zir’ or ‘fae/faer’ and the even stranger ‘nounself’ neoprouns like ‘bun/bunself’ which, according to the New York Times, are identities that can encompass animals and fantasy characters.” Wright goes on to argue that “Proponents of gender ideology have completely decoupled the terms ‘man,’ ‘woman,’ ‘boy,’ and ‘girl’ from biological sex.

As the world moved past the devastation of World War II in the 1950s and 1960s, and as the Cold War ended in 1991, the assumption was that the world, especially Europe, had learned some important lessons of history. But Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine harks back to the 19th century, when big powers crushed small powers at will. Columnist Frank Bruni writes, “What I see on the faces and hear in the voices of so many of the people around me is sheer disbelief about Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and a brutal war in Europe: Aren’t we supposed to be past this? Didn’t history move on?

I became a Christian in 1972 and began a focused, committed walk with Jesus in 1973. As my wife and I surrounded ourselves with Christian friends, we studied the Word of God, sang worship choruses and prayed together. One of the worship songs we sang was “We are One in the Spirit” by Peter Scholtes: “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord”. . . “We will work with each other” . . . and “We will walk with each other.” The chorus proclaimed, “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.” I doubt that anyone would seriously declare that this chorus reflects evangelicalism in 2022. Evangelicalism is a fractured movement at war with itself; a movement often reflects bitterness, recrimination, discord and division—not love.

Compassion is an important biblical term that means having pity on or showing mercy to someone. It is a character trait of God. The Old Testament speaks of having compassion on the “orphan, the widow and the stranger” (Deuteronomy 10:18) and on the “poor and afflicted” (Micah 6:8; Psalm 141:9). Compassion is used by Jesus at several critical moments in His ministry (e.g., Luke 15 of the father of the prodigal son; the Good Samaritan in Luke 10). One should not necessarily expect to see the virtue of compassion among unbelievers, but it is reasonable that one would see it powerfully among believers; among those who name Christ’s name.

Anti-Semitism has an ugly history. It was central to the plans of Pharaoh Ahmose who enslaved the Hebrews (see Exodus 1). It was a key element in Pharaoh Amenhotep I’s policy of genocide recorded in Exodus 1:15-22—to kill all Hebrew boys at birth. It was the driving force in Haman’s motivation to ask the Persian emperor Xerxes in 474 BC to issue a decree annihilating all Jews in the Persian Empire (see the book of Esther). In the 20th century the genocidal policies of the Nazi movement in Germany reached its apex with two monumental strategies

In a recent article, columnist David Brooks reports on the increase of disturbing behavior within American culture: “. . . reckless driving is on the rise, the number of altercations on airplanes has exploded, the murder rate is surging in cities, drug overdoses are increasing, Americans are drinking more, nurses say patients are getting more abusive . . . Teachers are facing a rising tide of disruptive behavior. The Wall Street Journal reported in December: ‘Schools have seen an increase in both minor incidents, like students talking in class, and more serious issues, such as fights and gun possession. In Dallas, disruptive classroom incidents have tripled this year compared with prepandemic levels, school officials said.’