With the end of World War II in 1945 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, America emerged as the first and only global superpower. America therefore championed the values of democracy, open markets, human rights and the rule of law—and it had the clout of both military and financial power to impose this moral code on terrorists and tyrants. The result was a period of peace, prosperity and progress. That world order championed by the US is breaking down. What are the elements of the new world order now emerging? Who are the primary players in this new order? What will the future look like as the new order unfolds? With this edition of Issues in Perspective, I begin a three-part analysis of this emerging world order.

In the 21st century, one of the major developments within American Christianity is the growing practice of cremation. Melissa Morgan Kelley of Christianity Today observes that “Surging cremation rates are upending traditional practices around death, as more people opt out of traditional church funerals and some skip communal experiences of grief altogether.” Historically, burning the body was associated with pagan practices and was often rejected by the Christian church.

The photographs NASA has posted from the James Webb Space Telescope, orbiting 1 million miles above the earth, are amazing. As I viewed them and read the details about each photo, I thought of Psalm 19 where David announces, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork. Day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world . . . .” [ESV]

Over the years, one of the major arguments I have presented on Issues in Perspective is the Postmodern world’s passionate pursuit of personal autonomy. The term “autonomy” comes from two Greek words, “self” and “law.” In other words, autonomy is the pursuit of “self-law;” humans are a law unto themselves, or as the refrain from the end of the book of Judges puts it, “Everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes.” This pursuit of autonomy rejects universal ethical standards and most forms of authority.

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution, ratified in 1791, begins: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” In other words, there will be no state (i.e., “established”) religion in the US, while the United States will protect and guard the “free exercise of religion.” Even a cursory reading of this Amendment indicates tension and the need to balance prohibiting the Congress from establishing a specific religion with the protection of individual citizens’ free exercise of religious beliefs.

American culture in 2022 bears every evidence of a madness that defies reason and common sense. Quite frankly, it manifests an utter foolishness. As Chuck Colson used to declare, what was once unthinkable becomes debatable and gradually becomes acceptable. Such foolishness and madness reflects the downward spiral of evil explained by the Apostle Paul in Romans 1:18-32. Consider these three examples of cultural madness.

Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 by warning of a nuclear strike. “Having exalted Russia’s atomic arsenal and promised Ukraine’s subjugation, he threatened countries tempted to interfere with consequences ‘such as you have never seen in your entire history.’ Russian TV has since tantalized viewers with chit-chat about Armageddon.” Even if he never uses the bomb in Ukraine, Putin has thus already upset the nuclear order.

We are living in an age awash in cruelty—not only with abuse scandals, but also with political barbarism and the horrific atrocities in Ukraine. But perhaps the most disheartening are the mass shootings we have witnessed these past few months: The vicious, racially motivated slaughter in Buffalo (10 killed and 3 wounded by a white gunman, an adherent to the pernicious racist conspiracy theory) and the unimaginable heartbreak in Uvalde, Texas—19 Robb Elementary children and 2 teachers: “Children having their tomorrows taken away.”

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.