Over the last few years, we have been bombarded with apocalyptic phrases such as ?fiscal cliff,? ?sequestration,? ?entitlement cliff,? and the persistent debt ceiling crisis. All of these are real issues and reflect the unwillingness of our governmental leaders to address the serious financial condition of America. But a recent article in the Wall Street Journal by Jonathan V. Last summarizes an even deeper crisis, one that captures one of the real causes of our nation?s financial crisis: A serious demographic cliff?the declining fertility rate in the United States. [The fertility rate is the number of children an average woman bears over the course of her life.] The fertility replacement rate is 2.1. Therefore, if the average woman has more children than that, the population grows; fewer children and it contracts.

There is a resistance in some parts of our culture to the idea of American exceptionalism: The conviction that America has developed differently than say Western Europe. Our political and our economic system is different than Europe?and intentionally so. Because America rejected the idea of a state church, the prolific religious pluralism of America has also influenced how it has developed as a civilization. America is different from Western Europe and much of this difference results from choices we have made as a civilization.

That young men and even young boys are confused about who they are, what is acceptable behavior for them and what exactly it means to be an adult male is now a given in American culture. This confusion is an unintended consequence of the feminist revolution in our culture, and two authors have been documenting this crisis for several years now. They are making a compelling case that American culture is failing its boys and that the impact of this failure is devastating. Let me explain.

The cultural left?s strategy on human sexuality is shifting?and it seems to be working. In the 1970s and 1980s, the cultural left, perhaps learning a lesson from the pro-abortion forces, began to wrap any discussion of sexuality around the treasured cover of rights, freedom and liberty. As abortion is a guaranteed right, so is being a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender person. Therefore, the government, the church, the broader culture or any religious conviction cannot suppress or deny such sexual expression. In terms of sexual activity, the only cultural prohibition seems to be rape and pedophilia; virtually everything else is permissible and acceptable.

That the family is the bedrock institution of civilization is a given. But what constitutes a family is now being debated, and increasingly the state is taking over more of the family?s function. As a Christian, it is difficult for me to see this as a positive development; in fact, I believe it is one of the most worrying developments of the postmodern era. For that reason, I want to focus on the state of the family in this Perspective.

The recent conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is a portent of a much more serious crisis looming on the horizon for Israel. It is a crisis that has political, military and profound security implications for Israel. In this edition of Issues in Perspective, I seek to place this entire conflict in a proper context.

Because of the economic crisis facing America, many were surprised at how strident the abortion issue was during the recent campaign and election. President Obama ran an aggressively pro-abortion reelection campaign, and, as columnist Michael Gerson argues, was ?seeking culture-war advantage on an issue he seldom mentioned four years ago.? This blatant thrust of abortion into his campaign followed on the heels of an equally aggressive first-term crusade against religious institutions. His Justice Department, in the Hosanna-Tabor case, argued against the existence of any ?ministerial exception? to employment rules. Further, Obama sought to mandate that Catholic schools, hospitals and charities offer insurance coverage for contraceptives and abortifacients. Gerson concludes as well that ?His revised policy still asserts a federal power to declare some religious institutions secular in purpose, reducing them to second-rate status under the First Amendment.?

For the first time since the European settlement of North America in the early 1600s, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, Protestants are in a minority. The Pew report shows that where 53% of respondents identified themselves as Protestant in 2007, in 2012 only 48% do so. This decline comes primarily from white evangelical and mainline Protestant Christians, but is especially pronounced among mainline churches. Entitled ??Nones? on the Rise,? the report is an important indicator on the state of American religion in 2012. Here is a salient summary of the report:

Human effort marks the world’s religion, not faith in a God who solved the fundamental problem of the human condition in Christ. Yet, religion, as I am defining it in this essay, continues to dominate the world scene. In fact, religion seems to be growing – and with it a growing hostility and intolerance. When one combines meritorious religion with political, military and financial power, you have a lethal combination. This has been much of the narrative through human history – and it continues today. Let’s consider modern Islam as an example. Several thoughts.

At the last minute during their convention, the Democratic Party added the name of God back into its platform. At the Republican Party convention, Republicans invoked the name of God 12 times. Since platforms and conventions are now more about symbolism than substance in our political culture, is this contrast between the political parties important? Actually, no. But there is a much larger issue at stake here. In so many ways, faith in the state and its benevolence is replacing faith in God. In some ways, this is the most important issue facing our culture today. Let me explain.