The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is in grave crisis. In May, the SBC released a report, the “Report of the Independent Investigation,” produced by a third-party investigator, Guidepost Solutions, and totaling almost 300 pages, which “alleged that the denomination’s top leaders had suppressed reports of sexual abuse, opposed proposals for reform, and denigrated and discouraged abuse victims who approached them for help. One of the report’s most shocking revelations was the existence of an internal list of 703 suspected abusers, compiled by an employee of the denomination’s executive committee, its national leadership body.”

First, a review of the 1973 Roe decision. In December 1971, the Court heard oral arguments brought by an anonymous plaintiff, which contended that the Texas laws forbidding her from having an abortion were unconstitutional. A majority of the justices agreed. Harry Blackman was assigned the responsibility to write the opinion, but he was uncertain where in the Constitution this legal right was grounded and how late in the pregnancy the right was to be granted. He grounded his decision on an implied right of privacy found in the Constitution.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has never hidden his faith in Jesus Christ or his values and standards as a Christian. In terms of loyalty to the president over his four years of service (2017-2021), Pence was exemplary. But, when faced with the brutal realties of the insurrection on 6 January 2021 and the pressure he was feeling from the president, his faith gave him the stability and forthrightness to do the right thing—to stand for truth and to defend the Constitution. Let’s think together about the heroic courage of Mike Pence on that fateful day in January 2021.

President Biden has used the term “genocide” to describe Vladimir Putin’s barbarism in Ukraine: civilians being slaughtered, mass graves and the deliberate, intentionally ruthless bombing of civilians. Is this an accurate term to use? Is Putin guilty of war crimes similar to those of Hitler and Stalin?

Business leaders who employ college graduates; employers who are looking for qualified high school graduates; and political leaders who are objectively analyzing the return on the investment of the trillions of dollars spent on American education at all levels agree that the American educational system is in crisis. In this Perspective, I delve into two aspects of this crisis—Mitch Daniels’s observation about accountability in education and the perverted strategies centered on DEI.

It is nothing short of astonishing that a few ultra-conservatives still regard Vladimir Putin as a messianic, heroic figure. For such people, in the early decades of the 21st century, Putin is a valuable ally because he seeks to replace the multiracial, multilingual global order with strong nation-states. Putin’s ideologist, Alexander Dugin, writes: “We must create strategic alliances to overthrow the present order of things, of which the core could be described as human rights, anti-hierarchy and political correctness, everything that is the face of the Beast, the Antichrist.” Right-wing ideologist, Steve Bannon, concludes that “We, the Judeo-Christian West, really have to look at what [Putin] is talking about as far as traditionalism goes, particularly the sense of where it supports the underpinnings of nationalism.”

The war in Ukraine has upset the world order resulting in the rethinking of past assumptions and perceptions. To provide the context for this observation, let’s go back to the opening of the Chinese Winter Olympics in early February: Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a high-profile summit meeting in which they pledged friendship and solidarity. At the end of their meeting, they issued a joint manifesto.

The dreadful war in Ukraine launched by the brutal and aggressive designs of the criminal Vladimir Putin has changed perceptions, assumptions and priorities. As Aaron Rhodes, President to the Forum for Religious Freedom—Europe, has argued, “[This war] is a war of conquest by a statist regime against a society seeking democracy and peace. Mr. Putin’s attack on Ukraine is emblematic of a world-wide conflict between democratic and hegemonic powers. It thus offers an opportunity for moral clarity, which will be crucial in the years and decades ahead.” It is indeed a chance to rediscover the principles of freedom and democracy, eroded by illiberal intellectual fads. This brutal war requires a change in the thinking of the United States about its future, its relationship with NATO and its military and diplomatic strategies.

As I am writing this, Vladimir Putin has launched an invasion of Ukraine, initiating the first European land war since 1945. By any definition, Ukraine is a sovereign nation-state. Christopher DeMuth of the Hudson Institute itemizes these criteria: 1. It occupies and polices a clearly defined territory inhabited by millions of citizens; 2. It has self-conscious polities with its own history, traditions and institutions of government, commerce and civil liberty; 3. It is a peaceable nation.

With the 1945 allied victory in World War II, America emerged a superpower, but a superpower contending with the Soviet Union for influence and dominance. With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, 1989-1991, American hegemony was achieved. From this collapse until the financial crisis of 2007-2009, the US dominated the world in various domains of power—military, economic, political and cultural. That hegemony is now breaking down.