Democrat Keith Ellison is using his support for transgender children as one of his closing arguments in his bid for Minnesota attorney general.

A current representative in the U.S. House, Ellison’s campaign ran a TV ad in late October featuring parents of an 8-year-old biological boy who identifies as a girl. The couple, Dave and Hannah Edwards, warn viewers that Ellison’s opponent, Republican Doug Wardlow, opposed allowing biological boys and biological girls to use the same restrooms and locker rooms in schools. Wardlow at the time was affiliated with the Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, which the Edwards call a “hate group.”

“When we worked to make our schools more inclusive for LGBTQ students, extremist attorney general candidate Doug Wardlow personally testified against kids like our daughter,” Dave Edwards says in the ad.

The Ellison campaign also released a longer video of the Edwards discussing their children and their support for Ellison. Hannah Edwards says, “Keith Ellison has been an unapologetic ally and defender of public policies that support LGBTQ people and their families.” 

The race between Ellison and Wardlow is expected to be tight. 

In 2017 Wardlow and ADF sent a letter to all Minnesota public schools, urging them not to adopt guidelines that would allow biological boys to use girls’ restrooms, and…

A large congregation in South Carolina has requested to leave the United Methodist Church over the mainline Protestant denomination’s debate over homosexuality.

In February 2019, the UMC will hold a special session of its General Conference to determine if the denomination will maintain its official position against homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

Christ United Methodist Church of Myrtle Beach, which is said to have approximately 1,600 members, has sent a request to the South Carolina Annual Conference to leave the denomination.

While their departure from the UMC has not been finalized, the congregation has already changed the church’s name to simply “Christ United,” as seen on its website and social media accounts.

The Rev. Jeff Dunn, lead pastor of Christ United, explained in an interview with local media published last week that he did not want his church to appear to be in either a camp that shunned homosexuals or one that appeared to welcome homosexual acts as acceptable.

“We’ve always been a church that doesn’t condemn and it doesn’t condone. We’re never going to make somebody feel that we don’t love them,” said Dunn,

On Sunday, at least 79 students and 3 teachers were kidnapped from a Presbyterian school in Cameroon. Governor Deben Tchoffo stated that Sunday’s kidnapping occurred around Bemenda.

A video depicting the kidnapped students allegedly surfaced on social media. The video is believed to have been taken by the Amba boys, a group whose name is in reference to the state of Ambazonia that armed separatists are attempting to enact in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon. 

Although the video has yet to be independently verified, parents of the kidnapped schoolchildren have been taking to social media and claiming that they are able to clearly identify them in the footage.

“We shall only release you after the struggle. You will be going to school now here,” declared the men who identified themselves as the Amba boys. 

This past year has marked a distressing period for Cameroon’s Anglophone regions, as hundreds have lost their lives as a result of the violence that has cropped up between armed separatists and the military. A major reason for this rise in violence can be attributed to the government crackdown against those protesting in the northwest and southwest regions, declaring that as the English-speaking minority they are deprecated by the French-speaking government.

Governor Deben Tchoffo spoke publicly about the kidnappings, stating: “It is rather…

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said “a war situation” is impending as the U.S. extends sanctions on the country.

According to the Associated Press, the sanctions stop economic benefits for Tehran. The sanctions had been initially removed under a 2015 nuclear deal, but this week, the Trump administration reinstated those sanctions.

As the sanctions were announced, Iranian state TV aired footage of its air defense systems and anti-aircraft batteries and footage of a missile shooting down a drone. The military said they were defense drill demonstrations.

“We are in the war situation, ” Rouhani said. “We are in the economic war situation. We are confronting a bullying enemy. We have to stand to win.”

“Yesterday, Saddam was in front us, today Trump is front of us. There is no difference. We must resist and win,” he said.

According to the Associated Press, the national currency of Iran is down.

Meanwhile, the U.S. says the sanctions are meant to push the country to change many of its policies.

“We are working diligently to make sure we support the Iranian people and that we direct our activity towards ensuring that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s malign behaviour is changed,” US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, told Fox News on Sunday.

“That’s the goal, that’s the mission, and that’s what we will achieve on behalf of the president.”

According to the BBC, the U.K.,…

The First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, has marked one year since 26 of its members, including the pastor’s daughter, were killed in one of the worst shootings in modern U.S. history.

Pastor Frank Pomeroy and his wife, Sherri, spoke with The Texan about how they and the congregation has been coping since the tragedy on Nov. 5, 2017, which resulted in the death of their daughter, Annabelle, along with other close friends and staff.

The gunman, Devin Patrick Kelley, was shot by neighbor and NRA instructor Stephen Willeford who pursued him in his vehicle as he sped away from the church and crashed into a sign, flipping the vehicle into a ditch. He later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It was believed at the time that his potential target was his mother-in-law, who was not present when the attack occurred.

Pomeroy, who has led the church for 17 years, said that the congregation has now grown to number 180–200 each Sunday, baptizing some 30-40 new believers in 2018.

“At least one or two reporters come every Sunday,” the pastor revealed.

He said that the…

A Roman Catholic diocese in Iowa acknowledged last Wednesday that it had concealed a priest’s admission of sexual abuse for decades.

According to The Associate Press, Rev. Jerome Coyle, 85, admitted to sexually abusing around 50 boys within the Sioux City diocese over a 20-year period. Reportedly, Coyle reported his “history of sexual attraction to and contact with boys” to the Sioux City bishop in 1986.

AP reports that the diocese never contacted police or informed the public about Coyle’s admission of abuse. 

A spokeswoman for the diocese, Susan O’Brien, told the outlet, “The diocese admits it could have been handled better,” but insists that there were no policies in place that required them to notify the police or the public. 

When the abuse was reported, the church stripped Coyle of his parish assignments and quietly sent him to a New Mexico treatment center for a six-month stint.

Coyle reportedly confessed his acts of abuse to Bishop Lawrence Soens who took no further action on the matter. The AP reports that a review board later found that Soens, too had abused students in his compacity as a priest and parochial school principal.

Since the story about Coyle broke, two individuals who are now adults, have come forward with allegations against Coyle. According to the AP, these allegations will be reported by the diocese to…