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.

One of the key themes of Issues in Perspective is the articulation and defense of the Christian worldview. That worldview is discerned from a study of the Bible and the application of that worldview to life. Two recent studies validate that worldview.

When God made his unconditional covenant with Abraham (see Genesis 12, 15, 17, etc.), He said that ?in you all the nations will be blessed.? One of the Lord?s expectations was that His people, Israel, would be a channel of blessing for all of humanity. They would represent Him to the world. The Apostle Paul picks up on that theme in the book of Galatians when he argues that one of the key blessings God had in mind was the blessing of justification by faith, which came through Jesus. Wherever Jewish people have gone, they have been a channel of blessing for broader humanity. Consider two recent examples:

Over the last decade or so, several books and articles have posited a rather optimistic set of projections about the Millennials?the generation born between 1982 and 1999. The typical thesis is that the Millennials are helpful, civically oriented young adults who desire to save the world. This view has recently been challenged, arguing instead that the Millennials evidence an entitlement mentality, are self-centered, and uninterested in anything other than their own virtual world of Facebook, Twitter and their I-Phone. Which is it? Are they the ?Me-Generation or the We Generation,? to quote Jean Twenge author of the book, Generation-Me?

Ethicist and legal scholar, Robert P. George, recently summarized the controversial life of Sir Robert Edwards, Nobel Prize-winning pioneer of in vitro fertilization (IVF), who died in early April at age 87. Today, there are literally millions of people in the world today who would not have been born had it not been for the IVF technology Edwards launched.

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?

Over two years ago, Syria was a relatively stable nation and Damascus, its capital (the world?s oldest continually inhabited city), was a stable city with a mixture of Christians and Muslims who lived reasonably well together. Since 1973, Syria and Israel had agreed to tolerate one another and the result was a stable border along the Golan Heights. Much of this stability was due to the brutal rule of the Assad family, an Alawite clan family that has ruled Syria since 1970. . . But that Syria no longer exists.

Twenty-five years ago, same-sex marriage was a ?thought experiment? in our culture. It was an idea promoted primarily by those on the left and other cultural radicals who saw few boundaries to personal freedom and behavior. But as the gay and lesbian movement re-framed human sexuality as a matter of personal freedom and liberty, not ethics, legitimizing same-sex marriage was not far behind. It was only 17 years ago that Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) decisively. Only a year ago, President Obama still opposed same-sex marriage. But, today, all the national momentum is behind same-sex marriage. It is now legal in nine states and the District of Columbia. . . .In effect, the definition of marriage is now on the line and legitimizing same-sex marriage seems imminent. How should we think about this momentous set of developments?

Almost exactly fifty years ago, Betty Friedan published her bombshell, The Feminine Mystique, which argued, among other things, that traditional gender roles had compartmentalized women as homemakers?both their and culture?s detriment. Arguably, Friedan?s book was the manifesto of the feminist revolution. Laws and cultural norms changed as equal treatment of and more professional opportunities for women increased. Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, has just published Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead. . . Permit me a few thoughts on this important book, for it says much about where our culture is and how our culture continues to process basic gender differences.