The World and Everything in It: December 4, 2024

LINDSAY MAST, HOST:  Good morning!

Today a landmark case at the Supreme Court. The question is whether states have the right to protect children from medical attempts at sex change.

LEATHERWOOD: It potentially opens up a Pandora's box on nearly any law that mentions biological realities of sex of male and female.

NICK EICHER, HOST: That’s ahead on Washington Wednesday.

Also today, WORLD Tour.

And a renowned eye surgeon on overcoming adversity and embracing freedom.

WANG: People who appreciate freedom the most are those who used to not have freedom.

And how doctor assisted suicide became mainstream.

MAST: It’s Wednesday, December 4th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

MAST: Now it’s time for the news with Kent Covington.

SOUND: [South Korean demonstrators]

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: South Korea » Chaos in South Korea Tuesday as hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets outside the country's parliament building.

They were protesting a decision by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to declare an emergency martial law.

YOON: [Speaking Korean]

Speaking there, Yoon insisted the declaration was necessary. He said pro-communist forces had infiltrated parliament and were conducting seditious anti-state activities on behalf of North Korea.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder told reporters

RYDER: Secretary Austin and the Department of Defense continue to monitor the developing situation in the Republic of South Korea... 

He said the U.S. government was keeping a close eye on the Korean peninsula...but said it saw no change in North Korean activities.

Shortly after Yoon's announcement, South Korea's parliament voted to halt the martial law declaration. President Yoon ultimately relented announcing his decision to lift the order just six hours after he issued it.

Biden Angola / dodges questions about pardon » President Biden made some history on Tuesday, becoming the first US president to visit Angola. His stop in the Sub-Saharan African country was aimed at highlighting billions of dollars of commitments there.

BIDEN:  The United States is all in, all in Angola. We've already, my administration alone, has invested over 3 billion in Angola thus far. The future of the world is here, in Africa, in Angola.

Biden touted what he called the largest ever U.S. rail investment overseas.

The Biden administration has been trying to counter China, which has a strong and growing influence in Africa.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby

KIRBY:  We hope, uh, very much that the incoming team will take a hard look at this and see for themselves the value in it and the benefits, again, not just to the people of Africa, Sub Saharan Africa, but the whole continent as well as the American people.

President Biden addressed reporters about those investments, but he dodged questions about his presidential pardon of his son Hunter after vowing he would not pardon him.

Trump asks court to toss NY business conviction » President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers have formally asked a judge to throw out his business fraud conviction in New York. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Trump’s lawyers told Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan in court papers that dismissal is warranted … because of the extraordinary circumstances of his impending return to the White House. They argue continuing the case would present unconstitutional “disruptions to the institution of the Presidency."

And they say it would undermine the—quote—“overwhelming national mandate" granted to Trump by voters last month.

Prosecutors have said they will fight any efforts to dismiss the case. But they have indicated openness to delaying sentencing until after Trump’s second term ends in 2029.

They have until Monday to formally respond to Trump’s filing.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Chinese illegal immigrant charged » A Chinese illegal immigrant has been charged with shipping weapons and ammunition to North Korea, in exchange for a $2 million-dollar payment.

Federal authorities in Los Angeles say 41-year-old Shenghua Wen told investigators the weapons were to be used for a surprise attack on South Korea.

U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Martin Estrada:

ESTRADA:  We allege that he conspired with government officials in North Korea to obtain military supplies including firearms and ammunition to obtain technology and then conceal that technology and those materials in shipping containers that departed from the port of Long Beach and then ship those materials on to North Korea.

Wen reportedly came to the U.S. more than a decade ago on a student visa from China and stayed in the country illegally. Federal authorities say Wen admitted to exporting weapons and ammunition to North Korea at the request of its government.

He could face decades behind bars.

SOUND: [Snow blower]

Great Lakes snow » Snow blowers hard at work in the Great Lakes region today.

Lake-effect snowstorms pounded the area over the weekend dumping several feet of snow. Some areas east of Lake Ontario reported more than 5 feet.

Dave Hamrick with the Weather Prediction Center warns that another storm system could add several more later this week.

HAMRICK:  Starting late tomorrow and especially into Thursday we'll see another round of snow as another reinforcement of Arctic air mass comes in … from the Northwest.

Parts of western Pennsylvania could see another 3 to 9 inches.

Christmas shopping forecast » Retail experts, though, say the forecast for the Christmas shopping season is looking pretty good.

National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay told reporters:

SHAY:  Our forecast for the winter holiday spending season, that's November one to December 31 is that sales will increase between 2. 5 and 3.5 percent above 2023 levels.

That would reflect a record-high for holiday shopping.

Already, so-called ‘Cyber Monday’ this week smashed records, with Americans spending more than $13 billion dollars on their online shopping.

That comes after shoppers spent almost $11 billion online on Black Friday, a 10.% increase over last year.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: threatened tariffs and Tennessee’s day in court. That’s on Washington Wednesday. Plus, the United Kingdom moves a step closer to allowing doctor assisted suicide.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Wednesday the 4th of December.

You’re listening to WORLD Radio and we’re glad you’ve joined us today. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. Time now for Washington Wednesday.

Today, a preview of the landmark case at the Supreme Court on how far states can go to protect gender-confused children.

EICHER: But first, President-elect Trump and his tough talk on tariffs.

Here’s Washington Bureau reporter Leo Briceno.

LEO BRICENO: It’s no secret that President-elect Donald Trump really likes tariffs.

TRUMP: The word ‘tariff’ is the most beautiful word in the dictionary. More beautiful than love…

Throughout his campaign, Trump pitched tariffs as a key instrument to protecting American industries from competition abroad, as a way to bring companies inside U.S. borders, and as a way to spur economic growth.

TRUMP: …The most beautiful word in the dictionary, remember that. It’s gonna make our country rich…

The idea behind them is simple: by raising the tax cost for certain imports entering the U.S., it favors domestic markets and products.

And, politically, that messaging has paid off. So much so that whether or not they actually deliver those ends is beside the point.

YORK: You know, just given the political success of tariffs he imposed in his first term… There were some studies that found that even in counties and districts where tariffs led to net losses in jobs they led to political benefits for Trump and Republicans in the next election cycle.

Erica York is a senior economist and research director with the Tax Foundation. She says that tariffs always create disruption as the markets they affect look for ways to get around steeper costs.

YORK: The most tariffs can do is kind of reallocate activity. It can reallocate some investment and some workers to protected sectors, but that's coming from someplace else.

Sometimes that encourages domestic growth. But it almost always means prices go higher for someone, and not just for those paying the tax. York points to Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum in his first administration.

YORK: So we produced more steel and aluminum in the United States, and we got to sell it at a higher price, so profits in those industries grew. But that means those in downstream industries had to pay higher input costs. So, think construction, auto-manufactures, they all had to pay higher input costs.

This time around, York says Trump is doubling down on his use of tariffs, and it’s evident in his cabinet choices.

KEVIN HASSETT: I reject the idea that it’s going to be anything like a sales tax…

Kevin Hassett is Trump’s choice to head the National Economic Council. He previously served as White House economic advisor during Trump’s first term. Back in September, Hassett told PBS that China’s response to U.S. tariffs will likely depend on who else is competing in the market.

HASSETT: Suppose there’s a product we only buy from the Chinese. Then if we put a tariff on it, then they’ll pass it through in terms of a higher price to us. And if there’s a product we can buy from other people, and we put a tariff on the Chinese then they won’t.

York believes that another part of Trump’s tariff game is to play for the reactions they elicit. By forcing countries to the negotiating table with threats of tariffs, he might be able to accomplish other priorities as well, like border security or drug enforcement. It seems to be working. On Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

TRUDEAU: It was an excellent conversation.

Trudeau and Claudia Sheinbaum, the President of Mexico, have already started engaging with Trump on what the tariffs mean for their relationship with the U.S.

They’ve also forced political conversations inside those countries too. In Canada, opposition leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on Trudeau to pull back on raising the carbon tax on fuel.

PIERRE POILIEVRE: Combining this kind of crippling kind of tax increase with potential tariffs from Donald Trump would push our economy into a nightmare and a tailspin.

But inside the US, it’s not yet clear how serious the threat of tariffs is, or how Trump will implement them.

While the president has some power to impose tariffs on his own, it’s not an absolute power. He’s going to need Congress to pass legislation. But with razor-thin majorities, free-market Republicans may push back on Trump’s tariff proposals. What if Trump asks them to tie tariffs to another high priority? Like renewing the tax cuts from 2017?

Here’s York again.

YORK: It’s going to be a big point of tension, especially if there’s a push to try to include these tariffs in legislation… So, I see it as a big risk to the agenda that congress has in dealing with the Tax expirations.

But that’s a question for January.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leo Briceno.

MAST: Now, from tariffs to transgender procedures for minors … Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case United States versus Skrmetti.

EICHER: Jonathan Skrmetti is attorney general of Tennessee. That state passed a law back in 2023 putting restrictions on cross-sex hormones and body-altering procedures for minors. The American Civil Liberties Union and some families in Tennessee sued, saying the law violates their rights, and today the case is before the Supreme Court.

MAST: There’s a lot to cover here so tomorrow, you’ll hear from families and individuals harmed by those procedures, then we’ll cover the legal arguments on Monday.

But today, an overview of what’s at stake in the case.

Here’s Washington Bureau reporter Carolina Lumetta.

CAROLINA LUMETTA: Diane Clements of Sacramento, California, has been sitting in front of the Supreme Court since 11 am Tuesday morning waiting for today’s oral arguments.

DIANE CLEMENTS: Im not good with cold, but I've got lots of layers and I've got my hand warmers and my electric socks and so I'm doing good. So I'm doing okay.

Public seating for oral arguments is first come, first served, and for big cases, coming early means days in advance. About 20 people were holding spots along the sidewalk as of last night, including an attorney self-identified as Russell Rode.

RODE: I am transgender and a lawyer and interested in writing about transgender issues in the law and this is a case that's going to decide potentially whether transgender people are protected under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Other court-watchers see this as a case pitting parental rights against the state’s power to regulate. Here’s WORLD Opinions Contributor and attorney Daniel Suhr.

SUHR: And so we're actually in this very unique posture in this case where conservatives who are usually championing parents' rights in other settings like a public school are in this instance skeptical of the parent's rights claims and instead insisting on the power of the legislature to regulate. And conversely, we have liberals who often are trying to put parents' rights in the context of broader social rights or broader community responsibilities for children are here insisting on the priority of the parents and their right to direct their child's medical care, including the right to have a transgender surgery on their child.

The case is about the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses in the Constitution. But experts expect the parental rights issue to come up quickly during oral arguments. With a conservative majority of six justices, it is likely they will side with Tennessee on ideological grounds. Determining whose right trumps the other could be less clear.

FOWLER: At a fundamental level, it's what does it mean to be human because until we know what it means to be human we don't really even know what health care is.

David Fowler is the president of the Alliance for Law and Liberty, based in Tennessee. He said the law was originally passed after the state found out that Vanderbilt Hospital, in Nashville made significant profits performing hormone treatments and reproductive organ-altering surgeries on children. But the plaintiffs argue that stopping these procedures discriminates against people who do not identify with their biological sex. Here’s Fowler again.

FOWLER: Really, what we're talking about here is redefining human beings into the category of cisgendered and transgendered. We're no longer just human beings but our humanity is is understood subjectively as to how we relate to our bodies.

Tennessee and the families are not the only litigants before the Court today. The Department of Justice is also arguing the case against the Tennessee law. U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar has said the outcome is of particular interest to the Biden administration. But that administration only has a month left in office. Here’s Daniel Suhr again:

SUHR: Were it argued three months from now, I don't know that the United States Department of Justice would take the same position. It is unusual, for the department to take such an aggressive role in bringing a case directly against the state law, which I think just shows you then political influence of the transgender activist lobby within the Biden administration to get them to take this unusually aggressive stand against the state law.

On the other side, dozens of organizations ranging from the Family Research Council to the governor of Texas filed friend of the court briefs in support of Tennessee’s law. That includes the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. ERLC President Brent Leatherwood says the case before the justices is clear-cut.

LEATHERWOOD: It's really a straightforward instance of the government, the state government in this instance, stepping in for a vulnerable population and saying this is an inappropriate medical intervention here.

When a similar New Hampshire law takes effect on January 1st, 26 states will have a law on the books that prohibits both hormonal treatments and surgical procedures for gender confused minors. If the Supreme Court rules against Tennessee, the new precedent could have a domino effect across the country. Here’s Leatherwood again:

LEATHERWOOD: It potentially opens up a Pandora's box on nearly any law that mentions biological realities of sex of male and female. So this case based on how it is decided, it could have very far reaching effects.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta in Washington.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with our reporter in Africa, Onize Oduah.

SOUND: [PROTESTERS]

We start today at protests in the Black Sea nation of Georgia.

Protests have continued for days in the capital city of Tbilisi … since the government decided last week to suspend talks of joining the European Union for four years.

On Sunday, protesters gathered once again outside the parliament building and threw fireworks … as riot police tried to use water cannons to disperse them.

Georgia’s Interior Ministry said at least 27 protesters and 16 police officers were hospitalized. More than 100 people have also been detained since the demonstrations began.

Here’s Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze.

IRAKLI KOBAKHIDZE: [GEORGIAN] I urge everyone to remain calm and abide by the law. I remind everyone that any violation of the law will be met with the full rigor of the law.

Critics accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party of pushing the country toward closer ties with Russia. The party’s victory in an October parliamentary election sparked accusations of Russian influence and voting irregularities.

The pro-Western and mostly ceremonial President Salome Zurabishvili … has also criticized the ruling party.

She says that she stands with the protesters as they seek to return the country to its European path and hold new elections.

SOUND: [PROTESTERS CHANTING]

Next we head over to Venezuela, where demonstrators there are demanding the release of people detained … after a controversial July vote.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council declared incumbent President Nicolás Maduro the winner … without releasing the vote tallies. Both Maduro and opposition candidate Edmundo González have said they will assume office on Jan. 10.

During the opposition-led march on Sunday, protesters released white balloons and shouted “freedom” for the nearly 2,000 people who are still imprisoned after post-election demonstrations.

Sairam Rivas is an activist who joined the march.

SAIRAM RIVAS: [SPANISH] We demand justice for those who are at this moment unjustly deprived of liberty, and furthermore, for all those who have been unjustly killed.

She says they are demanding justice for those who are detained and also those who died during the protests.

SOUND: [CHEERING MILITARY]

Over in the Middle East, Syrian rebels are cheering after regaining control of most of the city of Aleppo after a surprise offensive.

Thousands of opposition fighters now guard key landmarks in Syria’s second-largest city … including the international airport and the old citadel. The insurgents also claimed control of dozens of nearby towns and villages.

The latest fighting is the most significant in recent years. It’s also the first time the rebels have returned to Aleppo … since government troops regained control eight years ago.

Syria’s civil war began in 2011. Government troops regained control of much of the country with support from Iran and Russia years later … but the war never formally ended.

The latest rebels are part of a new coalition called “Military Operations Command.” They say their offensive is a response to growing attacks from the Syrian government and Iranian militias.

Kareem Chehayeb is with the Associated Press.

KAREEM CHEHAYEB: This comes at an interesting time as Syria's key allies, Russia and Iran, are preoccupied by conflicts of their own. And this recent flare-up in the Middle East also comes as there is conflict in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

Russia and Syria have conducted joint air raids against the insurgents.

SOUND: [FESTIVE MUSIC]

We wrap up with a holiday festivity …. this time in the South African legislative capital of Cape Town.

Children and adults wore colorful headgear to the Sunday event with the theme: “People of Hope.”

SOUND: [COUNTDOWN]

At the end of the countdown, a colorful blend of lights illuminated the city’s Adderley Street.

Here’s Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

GEORDIN HILL-LEWIS: Capetonians are the people of hope. They really give me hope, they find ways through difficult things. They are showing the example to the country of what is possible. So Capetonians are the people of hope, and this is the city of Hope.

Cape Town has organized the festivities for more than five decades.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Oduah in Abuja, Nigeria.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Oxford’s 2024 word of the year apparently couldn’t be contained in just one word, so the editors chose two: “brain rot.”

It’s the phrase that captures the mental decline brought on by overindulging in trivial online content.

Meanwhile, another dictionary publisher went the other direction. Collins Dictionary selected “brat” as its word of the year—not for an ill-mannered child, but as redefined this summer by a dance album artist.

According to Collins, “brat” now means being “characterized by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude.” So while one word laments online culture, the other doubles down on it.

So maybe they’re both right: It is a bratty, brain-rotted world . and we just live here.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, December 4th..

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: opening eyes.

Ming Wang is a renowned ophthalmologist now living in Nashville. His early life in China was deeply affected by the Cultural Revolution and the rule of Mao Zedong.

Wang’s education was halted for years, but he eventually came to America and studied at Harvard and M.I.T.

EICHER: He would go on to pioneer multiple laser eye technologies and founded the Wang Foundation for Sight Restoration, which helps patients free-of-charge. 

Wang’s conversion to Christianity inspired a character in the movie “God’s Not Dead” and he’s the executive director of the 2024 movie SIGHT, based on his own life story.

MAST: Dr. Wang, thank you for joining us.

WANG: Thank you, Lindsay.

MAST: Could you start by briefly talking about how you came to know Christ in the first place?

WANG: I came to America as a student from China to study, and I was an atheist. Actually, I was going to be just like 20 million others sent away to some of the poorest parts of the country for hard labor and poverty for life. And so I fought against that, eventually made my way to America in 1982 at age 21 and I was not interested in anything other than science, but it was in the study of the human eye—because I wanted to be a laser eye surgeon—that I found that my atheist worldview got into trouble. I kept on asking professor questions, and he finally took me out for lunch, and he said, “What's across the street?” I said, “There's a car.” He said, “What's the difference between a car and the human eye?” I said, “A human eye is a lot more complicated.” He said, “Okay, can you imagine a random piece of metal forming itself into a car?” I said, “No way.” And he said, “How about the human eye?” So right there, he opened the door in my life, making me realize that the human eye is so complicated but yet conformed, so nearly perfectly—most of the time—because it did not form all the randomness as atheists believe. It was formed with a purpose, and that purpose is vision. So that there was an open my life, the realization there's a creator, there’s a designer.

MAST: You’re not just an eye surgeon–you’re also a philanthropist. One group you’ve supported is the 917 Society, which gives copies of the Constitution to young people. Why is that important to you?

WANG: The people who appreciate sight the most are people who used to be blind. People who appreciate freedom the most are those who used to not have freedom. And I appreciate so much what we have here in America—the freedom and the faith. You know, human nature is that when we always have something, we do tend to take it for granted. And I think the behavior of many of us, many of Americans today, the polarization, the increasing unwillingness to work together, the increasing fixation on differences, rather than appreciating what we all have in common as fellow Americans, the increasing inability to work across political aisles, racial divides and ethnic divisions. So lack of common ground seeking is the symptom that reflects our deep lack of appreciation of America. I recognized America is about the two cornerstones. One is the Constitution and second is the Bible, the faith. So in terms of freedom, the Constitution, you know, our young people, next generation, who are all born in a country here with freedom, some of them have taken for granted and have no idea what it's like living under, you know, socialism and communism. So we need to remind all the young people of the cornerstone of our country, the Constitution. So that's why I've been involved in a society, 917 Society. And our goal has been to put the Constitution in the hands of every eighth grader here in America, and we have essentially achieved in successfully putting the Constitution in schools, eighth, eighth graders in all 50 states now.

MAST: The divisiveness you talked about–was that something you experienced when you first came to the U.S.? How has it changed since you arrived in the 80s?

WANG: I think definitely America has changed in the last 42 years since I've been here. In the last 42 years, I've seen our country is going the wrong direction. We're becoming a country that is so increasingly fixated on differences, rather than appreciating what we have in common. For us as Christians, we all have this common ground. Doesn't matter, nationality, ethnicity, political persuasion, our common ground is Christ. So I see that a sense of unity, that sense of putting Christ above everything else has been eroded here in America. And not taking for granted our freedom is not something we just say, Oh, I love America. It's an action we have to do, and their action proving that we truly love Christ, love America is our willingness to work together despite our differences.

MAST: You’ve accomplished a lot since China’s cultural revolution–I’m sure its taken a lot of grit. What have you learned about the importance of a quality like perseverance from your experiences?

WANG: Sometimes people ask him, you know, like, What? What? What is the best predictor for success? I realized that the most important predictor, as I what I have experienced in life to get anywhere, is the grit, the tenaciousness one needs to have, and I've been fortunate to have built that tenaciousness. We were very poor as a family during the Cultural Revolution in China, my parents have to live on the combined salaries of $15 a month, but despite that circumstance, they insisted me and my brother, study, study, study. And later on in life, what I learned to develop the grit and the tenaciousness is to when we encounter difficulty, challenges, and try to, even for small ones, try to fight it, and to learn to develop the ability to fight through small things, and when you successful in the small things, you know, overcome the challenges. One develops more confidence, and one develops the ability to train how to fight adversities and challenges. Being a Christian, I learned the definition of happiness is not what you do is successful or not, is, have you try your best?

MAST: Dr. Ming Wang is an ophthalmologist, author, and philanthropist in Nashville, Tennessee. His book From Darkness to Sight is the inspiration for the 2024 movie Sight. Thank you, Dr. Wang.

WANG: Thank you, Lindsay. Appreciate it.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, December 4th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. Last Friday, U.K. Parliament moved a step closer to joining countries like Belgium and Canada in legalizing assisted suicide. WORLD Opinions contributor Brad Littlejohn says it’s not hard to see why.

BRAD LITTLEJOHN: Since Parliament last debated—and decisively rejected—legalizing assisted suicide in 2015, several other Western countries have embraced some form of it with grim results. In most cases, what was sold as a strictly controlled practice with very strict criteria has begun to broaden into a blank check. In Canada, the program is known as Medical Assistance In Dying—or MAID. Deaths there grew thirteenfold in just six years after legalization—making up four percent of all deaths nationwide. Once intended only for terminally ill and grievously suffering patients has become the go-to option for anyone tired of living…or deemed unworthy of life.

Despite such cautionary tales, support for euthanasia continues to grow. Most frequently, the practice is justified as a compassionate antidote to the intolerable suffering that accompanies some deaths, and indeed, no one can be unmoved by such suffering. The timing is odd, however—why is it that support for assisted dying has ballooned in exactly the same era and in the same places that medicine has succeeded most in mitigating end-of-life suffering? Two centuries ago, no one could expect to have their passing eased by morphine, and yet assisted suicide was almost unthinkable in the West. What has changed? At least four trends have contributed to this cultural transformation.

First, a series of changes in biotechnology and bioethics have encouraged us to blur the boundary between “begetting” and “making” human life. With the advent of easy contraception, we began to think of the creation of a new human child as fundamentally a matter of choice, and if a matter of choice, a matter of technique. Human will, aided by scientific know-how, could be employed either to “make” a baby or to stop one being made. That which we have the power to make, however, logically, we must have the power to unmake.

Second, and relatedly, we have elevated “choice” to a self-justifying idol. One British member of Parliament in support of the bill writes: “Life is precious. But so is choice.” Arguing that “choice” is more precious. This mindset follows from decades of rhetoric on autonomy that has become endemic in our culture: “My body, my choice.”

Third, technology has conditioned us to look for the easy way out. Even as medicine has helped to dramatically reduce the suffering of illness, it has also discouraged us from learning how to bear suffering well. Even as transportation and communications technologies have vastly reduced waiting times, they have deprived us of ever learning the virtue of patience—the suffering of bearing time. As a culture accustomed to instant gratification and painless escape steadily ages, the pressure for an easy exit from life itself will only grow.

Fourth, most deaths now take place in hospitals or hospices, not at home, and often with only a doctor or nurse present. Today, more and more people die alone because more and more people live alone. Family bonds have been attenuated, and close friendships have become increasingly uncommon. As technology multiplies our “connections” with others, it weakens and dilutes each bond. A common theme in patients seeking medically assisted suicide is loneliness and isolation.

Even as the body count of wrongful deaths piles up, popular pressure for euthanasia is only likely to increase in coming years, and it is not hard to see why. All the assumptions and values of our society point in that direction. If Christians are to have a chance of holding the line in looming legislative battles, they will have to fundamentally challenge the culture of convenience, choice, and self-creation that has made the campaign for self-destruction so plausible today.

I’m Brad Littlejohn.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: more on today’s arguments before the Supreme Court over so-called “gender affirming care.” We’ll talk with a few families who wish Tennessee’s ban had been in effect earlier. And, we’ll meet an American doctor serving in Gaza. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Apostle Paul wrote to his protege Timothy: “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” —Second Timothy 2:3-7

Go now in grace and peace.

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