Recent decades have witnessed the global resurgence of militant Islam. This modern eruption is surprising to scholars, especially those who assume that as societies modernize and become more secular, religion will gradually fade away. However, Islam is now the fastest-growing religion in the world, and within that faith, an Islamist revival is driven by zealous believers determined to reverse the course of history.

In some ways, science is reminiscent of one of the biblical proverbs: “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter” (Proverbs 25:2). The “hard” sciences—physics, chemistry, biology, and their subdisciplines—represent the spirit of this verse well. Each of these disciplines is an effort to explore the works of the Creator’s hands and seek out facts hidden under the surface.

Folk singer Harry Chapin’s 1974 song “Cat’s in the Cradle” poignantly depicts a scenario familiar to too many families. The first two verses of the song describe a father who is repeatedly too busy to spend time with his growing son. The last two verses tell of the son, now an adult, who does not have time for his dad. Between each verse, the heartbreaking chorus repeats the point that each says he will spend time with the other when he has more to spare.

On October 25, 2018, Lord Peter Hain rose to his feet to address those assembled in the House of Lords, the United Kingdom’s upper house of Parliament. His speech lasted all of 37 seconds, but created a blast that would not have been exceeded had he detonated a nuclear device. Rather controversially, he had taken upon himself the responsibility of exposing what he saw as an intolerable “modern-day” injustice.

In May 2017, the Canadian Human Rights Commission amended the Human Rights Act to add “gender identity” and “gender expression” to the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination.