President Obama?s actions on Syria have been puzzling and difficult to assess. He declared that he would hold Syria accountable for crossing the now famous ?red line? he drew a year ago. Under his orders, the military moved all the necessary equipment?planes and ships?into place, ready to strike Syria. Major Arab nations, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, especially, supported his efforts. Secretary of State John Kerry issued several qualifiers about the nature of the US strike, even stating it would be ?unbelievably small.? The US then continued to issue a series of forewarnings that enabled Syria to move its WMD stockpiles to more secure areas.

The atrocities occurring in Syria defy all comprehension: Over 100,000 killed, over 2 million refugees, and a quarter of the population displaced. On 21 August, in the suburbs of Damascus, the brutal Assad regime killed over 1,000 of its people via rocket-launched chemical weapons. In addition, hundreds were burned by the chemical weapons, while others inhaled the gas with horrific consequences. Many of the victims were children. It is all unimaginable! Bashir al-Assad now joins the ranks of Mussolini, Hitler and Saddam Hussein, barbarians who used poison gas against their own people.

Recent polls now show that a majority of major Christian denominations, including Catholics, support legalized same-sex marriage. This is a tectonic shift: In 2004, 36% of Catholics and 34% of mainline Protestants supported legalizing gay marriage; today 57% and 55% of mainline Protestants do so. Among evangelical Protestants, the shift has been less dramatic?11% in 2004 to 24% today. Molly Bull in The Atlantic writes that ?[This shift] is the fruit of an aggressive campaign by a determined gay-rights movement that realized, particularly in the wake of the 2004 elections, that you cannot win politically in America if you are arguing against religious faith.? Until recently, religion was on one side, while gay rights was on the other. Central to this strategy was the effort to redefine the issue.

Detroit is the largest American city ever to file for bankruptcy. The Economist summarizes the details: Its long-term debt is estimated to be $18.2 billion ($27,000 per resident). Of this amount, about $9.2 billion is in unfunded retirement benefits. Since 2008 the city has spent about $100 million more each year than it has brought in. Attempts to solve these monumental challenges have been hampered by a feeble-economy, a shrinking population and rapidly increasing ?legacy costs.? Property-tax revenues have declined by 20% since 2008; income tax revenues by 30% since 2002. Fifty years ago the city was rich: GM, Ford and Chrysler made nearly all the cars sold in America. Detroit?s population was 1.8 million people. Today, it is 700,000?many of those are poor and poorly educated (e.g., 82% have no more than a high school diploma).

Last week, George Zimmerman was acquitted of charges of murder and manslaughter in the 26 February 2012 killing of 17-year old Trayvon Martin. The trial and the circumstances that led up to the trial were filled with intense emotion, controversy and ethical meaning. It should foster some soul-searching on the part of the nation, especially for Christians. Arguably, this was an extremely difficult case for the prosecution. . .

That marriage and family are changing is now a given. Law, insurance practices and government policies all reflect this change. Both are defined in many different ways and marriage is no longer solely heterosexual in its nature. Furthermore, Stephanie Coontz of Evergreen State College in Washington recently observed that ?marriage is no longer the central institution that organizes people?s lives. Marriage is no longer the only place where people make major life transitions and decisions, enter into commitments or incur obligations??

Near the end of May, President Obama delivered an important address at the National Defense University in which he declared that the war on terror is nearly over and it is time to shift our national thinking about terror. Among other things, he described al Qaeda as ?a shell of its former self.? . . . Many have compared the US War on Terror with the Cold War, which lasted more than 40 years. The US War on Terror officially began in 2001, so it is now about 12 years old. Thus, is it premature to diminish the terrorist threat and, in effect, declare that the War on Terror is nearly over or at least that terror is a much less significant threat to the US?

The brutal civil war currently raging in Syria is a complex conflict that has significant implications for both the United States and for Israel. Israel has vowed to stay out of this civil war but is worried that Hezbollah will obtain access to more sophisticated rockets and perhaps chemical weapons owned by Syria. Because the US has not taken leadership in aiding the rebel forces, Russia and Iran have filled that vacuum. . . Hezbollah has clearly ratcheted up its commitment to Syria–the military lifeline for this terrorist group. In addition, other Muslim nations, especially those of Sunni Islam, do not wish to see Syria, Iran and Hezbollah triumph in this civil war. The outcome of this horrific war has enormous implications for the Middle East and for the larger world?s balance of power. In this edition of Issues in Perspective, I hope to unravel some of this mess in Syria.

I would assume that most of you reading this article are not familiar with and perhaps have never heard of the case of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, now on trial in Pennsylvania for the murder of one woman and seven infants. As Conor Friedersdorf in the current issue of The Atlantic argues, this is the most under-reported story in recent memory. In fact, he reports, he was not even aware of the story until last week when he saw it reported in USA Today. It is a grisly, horrific tale of the murder of infant babies, of an unspeakably filthy abortion clinic and of a man who should have been placed in jail many years ago. No major news organization has reported on it in detail and few Americans are aware of what occurred. Only in the last few weeks have Fox News and the Wall Street Journal begun regularly reporting on this grisly trial. Perhaps it is a metaphor for the state of abortion politics in America.

Whatever your view of the role biblical Christianity played in the founding of America, intellectual honesty demands that one recognize that religion, religious values and specifically Christianity have all played a defining role in the development of American civilization. . . Whether one agrees with all of these various American developments or not, biblical Christianity was central in explaining each one of them. But there is growing evidence that that central role of biblical Christianity no longer exists in America. Is America becoming increasingly secular, with little or no religious influence in ethical, social, economic or political decision-making?