(RNS) — Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg told a Jewish publication he would dedicate $1 billion to fighting anti-Semitism — a clear sign the presidential candidate from Indiana is continuing to court Jewish voters.

“My administration will devote $1 billion to prevent and combat radicalization and violent extremism,” Buttigieg said in the article, in which he responded to five questions put to him by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, or JTA. “We will empower law enforcement by increasing the FBI’s domestic counterterrorism field staff and pass federal legislation to expand our ability to track hate.”

The Democratic candidate’s statement comes amid a rising tide of violent anti-Semitism and ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which falls on Monday (Jan. 27). This year’s remembrance day also marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Israel is marking the event with a large gathering at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, attended by dozens of world leaders, including Vice President Mike Pence.

In the Q&A, Buttigieg said that as president he would authorize new funding for teaching children about the Holocaust.

He said he would also direct the Department of Justice to make prosecuting hate crimes a departmental priority and provide grants through the Department of Homeland Security to better secure and protect Jewish…

A Kentucky man who spent 88 days in jail for his drug addiction says he found freedom in Christ and no longer craves the pills he once loved.

“Ain’t nothing has made me as high as Jesus does,” Frankie Woodall, a former drug user and dealer, told a WRVK-AM Facebook/radio program. KentuckyToday.com, a website with national and faith-based news, recounted Woodall’s inspiring journey. 

Woodall attends the faith-based Brodhead Celebrate Recovery in Rockcastle County, Ky.

For years, he was hooked on pain pills. When doctors refused to write him a prescription, he went to a suboxone clinic. 

“Seven or eight years of using and I kept getting worse and worse,” Woodall said. “They sent me to a suboxone clinic – I did those for three years. It was always trading one for another. Then I turned to meth and it destroyed me. I was trading good friends for bad friends. It took away everything. It made a slave of me.”

Woodall said he never stole to feed his drug addict but constantly worked to make enough money to feed his habit, Kentucky Today reported. 

“I worked myself to death. I was paying $300 to $500 every two days [for drugs],” he said.

His arrest was a blessing.

“I was running on borrowed time until I got arrested,” Woodall asserted.

His stint in jail lasted 88 days, during which he attended church services, accepted Christ and was baptized. 

“Until then I couldn’t…

Franklin Graham announced on Facebook that he will be attending this year’s “March for Life” event in Washington, D.C. this weekend.

“I’m going to do something on Friday that I’ve never done before—I’m going to march. I’m going to DC to walk in the March for Life,” Graham said, according to Faithwire. His daughter, Cissie Graham Lynch, will also join him.

“Why don’t you come join me?” he continued. “I would encourage anyone and everyone who cares about abortion to come, to walk, and to pray. Let’s let the courts, Congress, the media, and the world know what we believe and how important the lives of these children are. Every life matters to God and should matter to us.”

This year’s March for Life theme is “Life Empowers: Pro-Life is Pro-Woman.” Jeanne Mancini, President of March for Life, explained to The Daily Signal that the theme is in response to the centennial anniversary of the 19th Amendment, when women were granted the right to vote.

“It’s a great opportunity to go back and look at the suffragist, the early feminist, the early female leaders who recognize the inherent dignity of women and the inherent dignity of the unborn. We’re not at odds with each other and they had a really good understanding about that.”

Several pro-life leaders will speak during the march, according to Mancini, including Senator Katrina Jackson. As one of the few…

Vocal pro-life advocate and New England Patriots tight end Benjamin Watson wants to bring honesty and unity to the abortion debate in his new documentary, Divided Hearts of America.

“My goal is to unveil the truth about abortion, the laws, the history and where our country is headed,” he said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Though this is the football player’s first foray into filmmaking, his convictions on pro-life issues drove him to engage in the topic.

“I never thought I’d be involved in a movie,” he said. “But so many different laws have passed in New York, Alabama, Georgia, it seems this issue—which has always been a part of our national consciousness—has ramped up recently. Things are at a fever pitch.”

The film will interview 30 Americans on both sides of the debate. It will feature several different leaders, including former presidential candidate and neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Alveda King, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s niece.

“I’ll engage those who disagree and hear their reasoning. The number one thing I’m looking for is empathy on both sides,” he said. “Dissenting views should be respected and in fact encouraged. There are many people in Hollywood who would consider themselves pro-life but they feel as though their viewpoint is unacceptable in the industry. No one should feel like their job is in danger because of their convictions on this…

The Trump administration Department of Justice is urging an appeals court to uphold an Ohio law banning abortions based on a Down syndrome diagnosis, saying the law affirms the “integrity of the medical profession” and protects individuals from discrimination based on a disability.

At issue is a 2017 Ohio law prohibiting doctors from performing abortions if the doctor “has knowledge that the pregnant woman is seeking the abortion, in whole or in part” due to a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis. 

Although a three-judge panel on the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the law in a 2-1 decision last year, the full Sixth Circuit took up the case in what is known as an en banc hearing. 

It is known as the Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act

“Many women whose unborn children are diagnosed with Down syndrome receive the message that those children would be better off never being born,” says the Justice Department’s friend-of-the-court brief, filed Tuesday. “… The Antidiscrimination Law promotes Ohio’s contrary message that people with Down syndrome have lives worth living, lives worth protecting. The validity of such a message is evident, especially, when one considers ‘the once-pervasive practice of involuntarily sterilizing those with mental disabilities,’ which ‘the judiciary itself endorsed.’

“Just as a State may reasonably ‘fear that…

Leaders of a Minnesota church are denying allegations it intends to send its mostly senior membership packing in order to relaunch later this year with a new emphasis on young families.

“Everybody is welcome,” Lead Pastor Daniel Wetterstrom of Grove United Methodist Church told KARE 11 news.“Our hope is they’re not going anywhere. This is their church.”

In a Jan. 21 letter to their congregants, Wetterstrom—joined by Associate Pastor Kelly Lamon and Core Team Chair Betsy Stites—maintain media coverage “did not accurately portray what is happening with the Planting Project.” The church operates at two separate campuses, the main church in Woodbury, and the smaller congregation meeting in Cottage Grove.

“The worshippers at Cottage Grove are beloved members of our church family; their presence and contributions are part of our identity,” the letter read.

As Christian Headlines reported Tuesday, members at Cottage Grove were reeling after learning their church would be shuttered in June while a new team, led by Jeremy Peters, revamps music and programming to reach a younger audience. It is set to open toward the end of this year. The effort is being underwritten by a $250,000 grant from the denomination’s regional Annual Conference.

“It’s a new thing with a new mission for a new target and a new culture,” Peters said in earlier news reports, adding…