The World and Everything in It: January 2, 2024

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. My name is Jason Woodard. I live in Battle Creek, Michigan, and I am a plant manager. I hope you enjoy today's program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning! Electric vehicles have been hyped as the next big thing, but why aren’t there more of them on the road these days?

RICKARD: Customers have spoken with their feet and their dollars and they’re not buying it. They're just not buying it.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today, the bioethics of new gene-editing therapies for blood diseases. And, a classic book on what it means to live as a Christian.

AUDIO: What divides and severs true Christian groups and Christians is not the issue of doctrine or belief which caused the differences in the first place. Invariably it is the lack of love in the midst of differences.

And World Opinions contributor Daniel Suhr responds to a misguided analysis of evangelicals in politics.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, January 2nd. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

REICHARD: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Israel reserve forces » Israel is pulling thousands of troops off the front lines in Gaza, hinting at what could be a new, scaled back phase of the war with Hamas.

GALLANT: [Speaking Hebrew]

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says while many troops are heading home or back to bases, the end of the war is not yet in sight.

Gallant says Israeli Defense Forces are focusing now on Hamas strongholds. 

With Palestinians facing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the U.N. and some global leaders have called for Israel to end the war.

NETANYAHU: [Speaking Hebrew]

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to keep up the fight until Hamas is crushed and hostages are released.

NETANYAHU: [Speaking Hebrew]

He also says Israel must maintain control of the buffer zone that runs along Gaza's border with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor. He said that’s the only way to ensure a demilitarized Gaza.

Israel high court » Meantime, in Jerusalem, Israel's Supreme Court delivered a heavy blow to Netanyahu, overturning a key part of his controversial judicial overhaul. WORLD’s Lauren Canterberry has more.

Lauren Canterberry: The court's narrow 8-to-7 decision scraps a law that stopped judges from striking down government actions they find "unreasonable."

The overhaul, aimed at limiting the Supreme Court's powers, sparked mass protests, with critics saying it would lead to corruption and cronyism.

But Netanyahu and his allies argued the change was needed to rein in a judiciary that they say has grown too powerful.

Monday’s ruling is a dramatic twist in the power struggle which could spark a constitutional crisis in Israel.

For WORLD, I’m Lauren Canterberry.

PUTIN: [Speaking Russian]

Ukraine-Russia » Vladimir Putin is vowing to ramp up attacks against Ukraine.

PUTIN: [Speaking Russian]

Putin heard there at the Kremlin after Russian forces bombarded Ukrainian cities over the weekend with more than 100 missiles and 90 Iranian-made drones. The attacks killed dozens of civilians.

Putin accused Ukraine of carrying out an attack last week in the Russian border city of Belgorod. Local officials said shelling in the city killed 21 people.

Meanwhile, in Kyiv:

ZELESNSKYY: [Speaking Ukrainian]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a New Year’s video address vowed to wreak “wrath” against invading Russian forces in 2024. He added that Ukraine will have a million drones in its arsenal this year.

Japan earthquake » Thousands of people are without power in Japan after a series of earthquakes rocked the country’s central west coast yesterday.

SOUND: [Rattling sound and crowd]

The strongest quake hit 7.5 on the Richter scale, prompting a tsunami warning along the shoreline. And more aftershocks are possible over the next few days.

Tokyo resident Daniel Smith was visiting a shrine in Toyama City.

SMITH: All of the sudden there was shaking and people just started, you know, they were asking around what to do and then finally one of the priests came out and said 'run', you know. And then basically everybody just started running.

Many older buildings crumbled amid the violent tremors. The quakes also damaged infrastructure and killed several people, according to local media.

U.S. border » With migrant traffic at the U.S. southern border toppling another record, the vice president of the labor union that represents Border Patrol agents is speaking out.

Art Del Cueto pushed back Monday against remarks by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. The Democratic mayor blasted Texas for busing a small fraction of the migrants crossing the border to sanctuary cities like Chicago. But Del Cueto said Monday,

DEL CUETO: Every single year that this administration has been in office, the numbers keep getting bigger and bigger. And that’s who the finger needs to be pointed at because you’re seeing way too many individuals that are coming across from all over the world.

Migrant encounters reportedly set another new record with more than 300,000 in the month of December.

New state laws » New laws are now in effect across the country for 2024. Among those changes, doctors and pharmacists in California who mail abortion pills to people in other states where those pills are banned will be shielded from prosecution.

And in Illinois, any library that chooses not to expose children to LGBT materials will not be eligible for state funds.

By contrast, a new Indiana law makes it easier for parents to challenge books in school libraries.

Idaho, Louisiana, and West Virginia have enacted new laws protecting minors from transgender procedures.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: why electric vehicles aren’t taking over the roads. Plus, Classic Book of the Month.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 2nd of January, 2024.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

First up on The World and Everything in It, unsold electric vehicles filling up lots.

We started last year with big goals for electric vehicles from the Biden administration, but even with tax breaks and credits, dealers can’t move EVs off their lots. So we’re starting this year with dealers losing money on EVs that have sat on their lots for too long.

What accounts for this: Is it simply a slow season or is there a bigger trend in the auto industry?

WORLD Radio’s Mary Muncy has the story.

SOUND: [OBRIEN GETTING IN AND STARTING HIS CAR]

MARY MUNCY: Zach O’Brien hops into his 2022 Hyundai Tucson plug-in hybrid. He’s going on a quick trip into town.

ZACK O’BRIEN: We can go months without a time without having to use gas even.

He works from home and he and his wife use the car mostly to shuttle their kids around town and for groceries. He got it used earlier this year. He would’ve gotten it new, if there hadn’t been a months-long waiting list.

O’BRIEN: I definitely want to go EV but think the infrastructure isn't quite there for it to be easy and quick. We do have two children that we were planning to take road trips with and the idea of stopping more often for longer for charging up the car if it was pure EV just wasn't something we wanted to jump into right now.

O’Brien isn’t alone. Most Americans are choosing a hybrid over an EV for similar reasons.

AUDIO: [OBRIEN GETTING OUT AND TURNING OFF CAR]

Dealers can’t keep enough hybrids on their lots, while Cox Automotive estimated in December that EVs sat unsold for an average of 114 days. That’s about double how long they should be there.

Don Rickard was in the car business for 33 years and sold his business last year. He says EVs weren’t selling well when he owned his business. and it’s only gotten worse.

DON RICKARD: They have to sell them for a loss typically, unless the manufacturer puts incentives on them, which they're trying to do right now. But dealers have to get rid of them, because once they come to their lot, they're theirs.

Rickard says manufacturers are people too and are just trying to meet their quota.

RICKARD: They want you to take a lot of EVs because they have to because the government's making them produce them.

In April, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed new rules that would require nearly two-thirds of new cars sold to be electric by 2032.

But while Cox Automotive confirms that EV sales are rising at record rates, they’re not climbing as fast as manufacturers had hoped.

Over the past few months, several manufacturers stopped or delayed projects that would have increased their EV manufacturing capabilities.

Ford delayed construction of a massive battery manufacturing plant in Kentucky. GM delayed the production of several electric vehicles, and then announced about 1,300 layoffs. Even Tesla’s sales numbers have been hit, but not nearly as hard as other manufacturers.

Only Toyota has managed to escape the decline. Toyota has consistently invested across the spectrum of cars, rather than throwing everything into EVs.

RICKARD: Customers have spoken with their feet and their dollars and they’re not buying it. They're just not buying it.

The problem reached such a fury that last fall when the United Autoworkers Union went on a six-week strike.

PROTESTORS: We are the union! The mighty mighty union.

They said manufacturers were increasing investment in EV technology, instead of their wages. The strike ended in a deal that will cost Ford and GM billions of dollars.

Then in November, 233 members of Congress sent a letter to the Biden administration asking for the EPA to push back its mandate saying it will hurt the economy.

Kelly Senecal is co-founder and owner of Convergent Science and vice-chair of the American Society for Mechanical Engineers’s Internal Combustion Engine Division.

KELLY SENECAL: We are seeing that like a lot of auto companies are coming out and saying, you know, maybe we're going a little too quickly on the EVs. Let's keep pushing them. But like, let's ramp up the hybrids as well.

Senecal says that just like diversifying an investment portfolio, it makes sense for auto manufacturers to diversify what they make—and not force them to put all of their eggs in one basket. That way if America does end up with a clean charging infrastructure in place, they’ll be ready… but if there is more innovation in something like renewable fuels, they’ll be able to pivot in that direction as well.

SENECAL: So I think what we're seeing here is, as soon as you start to dictate, I guess, the technology either from a government level, or from an automotive company level, consumers, if they don't like that, they will push back.

Senecal says EVs are not the silver bullet. Until manufacturers, dealers, and the government can provide affordable EVs that are just as convenient and reliable as gas-powered cars, consumers will likely continue to leave EVs on the lot.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Next up, greenlighting a gene-editing tool.

Back in December, the Food and Drug Administration approved a treatment for sickle-cell disease that relies on editing the DNA of patients.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: The technology behind this new treatment first made headlines just over a decade ago. In 2012, a team of American and French scientists discovered that sequences of genetic code in the immune system could be manipulated and edited using a special enzyme called CRISPR. That’s C-R-I-S-P-R.

Now the FDA says it’s safe to use a form of this gene-editing therapy called Casgevy for treating patients with certain blood disorders.

EICHER: How does it work, and is it good medical stewardship?

Joining us now is David Prentice (Phd). He’s Vice President of Scientific Affairs for the Charlotte Lozier Institute, and Advisory Board Chair of the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center.

REICHARD: David, thank you for joining us!

Well David, how does the CRISPR technology in the Casgevy treatment work to cure sickle cell disease?

DAVID PRENTICE: That's the actual therapy that's used, as you've mentioned. And what they do is they actually start with the patient's own adult stem cells. If we back up a step, you're, we're after trying to cure sickle cell disease and related types of diseases. Now, in the blood, the red blood cells are carrying oxygen. How do they do that? They've got little proteins called hemoglobin that grab onto the oxygen and then the cell carries around through your body. And the problem with sickle cell disease is there's a mutation, and it makes it number one not able to carry oxygen very well. But number two, the mutation makes those proteins clumped together into rod-like shapes, so it looks like a sickle. Casgevy was one for sickle cell. There's another one called Lyfgenia. Fancy-sounding names, but they get at sickle disease different ways. The Casgevy, the CRISPR based one really just goes in and it makes a cut to turn off an inhibitor of a different type of hemoglobin gene. Okay, there gets real complicated here, but if your listeners think about having a light switch, and you can turn it on and off turning on and off a gene would be the equivalent. In this case, there's a different type of hemoglobin called fetal hemoglobin. We use it while we're in the womb to get oxygen around to the cells of our body. And then it's turned off about the time we're born and the adult form is used. There's a cover over the switch that keeps fetal hemoglobin turned off once we're born. And what Casgevy does is go in and make a cut to turn off that cover so that you can now open up and make fetal hemoglobin. So the Casgevy is really just making fetal hemoglobin to carry the oxygen in place of the mutated normal adult globin. The other gene therapy that's just come out and been approved by FDA doesn't use the fancy CRISPR enzyme, but it takes the patient's own adult stem cells, and it inserts a new copy of the hemoglobin to replace the one that's mutated and causing all the trouble.

REICHARD: You know David, this conversation about gene-editing therapies reminds me of a story from 2018. Back then, a Chinese scientist announced that he’d edited the genetic code of two unborn babies to prevent them from contracting HIV.

The scientist, He Jiankui, was arrested by the Chinese government for illegal medical practices, but after being released in 20-22, he ended up back in the lab this past June. According to NPR, He said his mistake was moving too quickly with his experiments.

David, what bioethical guidelines would you say are necessary as scientists do more with CRISPR?

PRENTICE: What your story about Dr. He points out is there actually two ways to do these genetic engineering therapies. One, the Casgevy and the Lyfgenia that we discussed are what are called somatic genetic engineering. You do this on somebody that's already born, or at least near birth, it only affects that individual, a nd you take care of their condition just as if you were giving them a particular drug, but again, you're changing their DNA. In this case, the other type, and what Dr. He did is called germline or heritable genetic engineering. And he actually started with those little girls when they were embryos, and did that genetic engineering on them at that point. Now, as you say, his idea was he was going to prevent them from being infected with HIV virus. It turns out only one of the two little girls did it actually work on them and the the treatment that they used, probably caused other types of changes, including making them more susceptible to influenza, West Nile virus, actually potentially changing their intelligence and probably changing the length of their lifespan, decreasing it. When you start messing around with something that will now be heritable and passed on to future generations, we don't really know what we're doing as scientists in the lab. And there is definitely an ethical distinction between doing these kinds of treatments on a patient who's already been born, and just treating them for a disease versus trying to change the future, if you will not just have one little individual, but generations.

REICHARD: A common argument for justifying scientific research in ethically murky areas like this is that the U.S. can’t let adversary nations get ahead and potentially hurt us. That’s how we got nuclear weapons in the 20th century. How would you respond to that argument as it applies to gene-editing technology?

PRENTICE: Well, I think you know, the race is really to hold the highest standards of ethics. And in fact, if you look at lots of these various scientific studies that have been proposed, you have to look at what are you really after doing here? Are you really trying to alleviate a disease condition? Are you trying to design a human being in your own image? It turns out most of those techniques they propose and experiments that have been done, that crossed that ethical line are not the ones that work. Look at embryonic stem cells and the proposal that they were going to, as one person put it, cure all known maladies. Not a single person has been successfully treated and cured in 25 years of embryonic stem cell research, where in the meantime, adult stem cells from our own bodies or from matched donors, where you don't kill the donor as you do with embryonic stem cells, are the ones that are really treating disease and curing things. Currently, over 2 million people around the globe helped by adult stem cells. The scoreboard still reads zero for embryonic so the unethical research is also unsuccessful and we really need to focus on what's going to help people but without crossing the ethical lines.

REICHARD: David Prentice is the Vice President of Scientific Affairs for the Charlotte Lozier Institute. David, thank you for your time and expertise. We really appreciate it.

PRENTICE: Thank you.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, January 2nd. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD’s Classic Book of the Month for January.

You may have heard of apologist Francis Schaeffer. He wrote numerous bestselling books throughout his ministry, including The God Who is There and True Spirituality. Reviewer Emily Whitten says a lesser-known book by Schaeffer might be his most helpful resource in 2024.

EMILY WHITTEN: Christian apologist Francis Schaeffer spoke those words back in 1977 as part of his film project, How Should We Then Live? At that time, Schaeffer was well-known by evangelicals for his defense of truth and Judeo-Christian values. In the 70s and 80s, he was especially vocal on the pro-life cause, rallying lethargic Christians to fight Roe v Wade.

CHRISTIAN MANIFESTO: And in abortion itself, there is no abortion method that is not painful to the child.

In our Classic Book of the Month titled The Mark of a Christian, Schaeffer defines his idea of the “final” or ultimate apologetic to a dying world. In the book’s first pages, he quotes John 13. Read here by Andy Lepeau:

LEPEAU: A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another by this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

Former Intervarsity Press editor Andy Lepeau says Schaeffer originally wrote The Mark of a Christian as one chapter of a longer work. Early on, Schaeffer felt it needed more visibility. His editor, James Sire, resisted at first, but he soon began to see the chapter could work as a stand-alone book.

LEPEAU: I mean, it's something you can read in an hour. And, and, and the structure is clear, the message is very focused. And, and so it is, it is a little bit different than your typical 250 page book. But yes, I think it would be a great volume to start the New Year off with.

Schaeffer’s message is brief but powerful—and often comes from his personal experience with other Christians. Lepeau reads here from a section titled “Visible Love.”

LEPEAU: What divides and severs true Christian groups and Christians but leaves a bitterness that can last for 20, 30 or 40 years is not the issue of doctrine or belief, which caused the differences in the first place. Invariably it is the lack of love and the bitter things that are said by true Christians in the midst of differences.

Former professor William Edgar published a biography of Schaeffer in 2017 called Schaeffer on the Christian Life. He says Schaeffer valued both orthodoxy and orthopraxy—or right beliefs and right actions. Back in the 1960s, Edgar became a Christian under Schaeffer’s teaching—so he certainly appreciates Schaeffer’s commitment to right thinking and doctrine.

EDGAR: And he a he connected Christianity to all of life, art politic politics, you name it and he was just a riveting to listen to because he had thought about just and everything. And you know, we Harvard kids thought we were pretty smart, this guy, you know, he ran circles around us because he knew not only more than we did, but he knew how to think about them.

Edgar also saw Schaeffer and his wife show a radical kind of love for others.

EDGAR: They were loving to absolutely whosoever came up there and they had this prayer. That they would accept people who came up to their chalet as being sent by God. But that meant if some guy came, who was a drug addict and got sick in their living room, he was from God and there was a reason to be there.

Orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Scheaffer spent a lot of his time speaking against the errors of liberal Christianity—errors that overemphasized love to the point of compromising doctrine. But he’d also seen many of his conservative friends make the opposite error.

EDGAR: He dearly regretted the hard nosed approach he'd had before where they, they were maybe correct in doctrine, but they didn't have any love.

In The Mark of the Christian, Schaeffer points to Paul’s wisdom in confronting both errors. In 1st Corinthians, Paul “scolds” the church because they did not discipline a man “in the midst of fornication.” But in 2nd Corinthians, when it seems that the man has repented, Paul “scolds them because they are not showing love toward him.” Schaeffer explains that God calls us to love other Christians, especially when we seek to correct them.

LEPEAU: We should never come to such differences with true Christians without regret and without tears. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Believe me? Evangelicals often have not shown it. We rush in being very, very pleased it would seem at times to find other men's mistakes.

This book is only 60 small pages written in a conversational style. While that makes it accessible, the book cleaves much unsaid and may feel uneven in its focus on love. Those new to Schaeffer might read a biography like William Edgar’s to get a fuller context of his ministry, including his vigorous defense of Biblical truth.

Schaeffer admits this side of heaven, we’ll never perfectly reflect God’s love. That’s why he pleads with his readers to seek forgiveness when they get things wrong and be quick to forgive–something Schaeffer modeled to his listeners.

In the second edition of The Mark of a Christian, editor James Sire recounts the story of a Yale student who began to “aggressively” question Schaeffer during a talk. Afterwards, Schaeffer didn’t avoid him…instead he immediately sought him out.

LEPEAU: That was not a one time event. Schaefer would do that over and over and over with anyone who came to him with, with questions and who was I mean, a genuine questioner, even if they were an aggressive questioner, someone who had a lot to, to, to say on the other side and to say it strongly, he, he was incredibly patient and loving, he cared for these people.

Our Classic Book of the Month, The Mark of a Christian by Francis Schaeffer, has challenged me and prompted me to ask this question—how can I better show God’s love to others especially “those of the household of faith”? As we head into a new year, it’s not a bad question to ponder.

I’m Emily Whitten.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is January 2nd. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Up next, WORLD Opinions Contributor Daniel Suhr responding to a popular book that creates a false dilemma for American evangelicals in 2024.

DANIEL SUHR: Atlantic journalist Tim Alberta’s new book is titled The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism. Alberta seeks to understand what he perceives as a shift in the center of evangelicalism toward the far-right. He believes many evangelicals now prioritize politics and loyalty to Donald Trump as the test of Biblical faithfulness. He draws from his personal experiences and uses chapter-length vignettes to profile evangelical colleges, conferences, and churches.

As he writes, Alberta often sees the worst in people. For instance, he accuses Mike Pence of “knowingly ­bastardiz[ing] a precious passage from the New Testament” in “a stunt that was nothing short of blasphemous” for his 2020 convention speech. (Pence had mashed bits of 2 Corinthians 3 and Hebrews 12 together with a reference to Old Glory.) Alberta has a point: The freedom we find in Christ is very different from our American conception of political liberty. But Pence’s remark fits easily in the broad arc of presidential rhetoric.

Alberta worries about extremism, but he manages to engage in the same error with his own overwrought rhetoric. He dedicates a whole chapter to comparing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s despicable twisting of Russian Orthodoxy to Former President Trump’s use of evangelicalism. On this point he warns that America treads dangerously close to establishing a Trumpy Christianity as the state religion-as-ideology.

But Alberta’s central problem is that he tries to establish his thesis through anecdotal evidence. He cherry-­picks churches and conferences, finds exactly what he fears, then suggests this is typical. But many good churches focused on the gospel, the Christmas pageant, and the person in their small group fighting cancer—instead of Donald Trump’s supposed sainthood.

The book also never grapples with key questions like whether evangelical political engagement today is markedly different from the past. Evangelicals have always connected their faith to their votes and have always had their hypocrites, grifters, and excesses along the way. If anything, one could argue today’s evangelicalism is less political than before: There is no Moral Majority or Christian Coalition leading the effort, and no pastor-pundit serving as its face.

Alberta also never asks whether evangelicalism is distinctly different in its political behavior from other branches of American Christianity. Is it more nakedly political or power hungry than liberal Episcopalian churches with their rainbow flags and BLM yard signs? And what about African American churches that welcome Democratic candidates into their pulpits, or enthusiastically pro-life Catholic parishes? Some of what he reports is disconcerting in insolation, but the book still reinforces a media double standard for evangelicalism.

The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory offers some bracing critiques. He speaks some hard truths, pointing out epic failures of leadership and un-Christ-like behavior. Still, he fails to make his case, creating a false dichotomy, as though the only options are to follow Russell Moore or Jerry Falwell Jr. There is a third way: to agree with Trump or any candidate or party when they’re right, disagree when they’re wrong, and in general to make prudential judgments with the consistent application of Biblical principle and practical wisdom.

I’m Daniel Suhr.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: on Washington Wednesday, a look at what House Speaker Mike Johnson has accomplished so far in his tenure.

And, winning souls on a pickleball court. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

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 Psalmist writes: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’” —Psalm 2:2, 3

Go now in grace and peace.

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