Donald Trump became the first president to appear at the March for Life Friday, telling the tens of thousands gathered in Washington, D.C., to defend the unborn, “We will win.” 

“We are fighting for those who have no voice,” Trump said to cheers and applause. “… Together we are the voice for the voiceless.”

Although past pro-life presidents such as Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush had spoken to the rally via telephone, Trump was the first president to appear at and address the march live. Many in the audience hoisted red signs declaring, “Most Pro-Life President Ever.” 

Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, introduced Trump. The march is held each January around the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. 

“We’re here for a very simple reason – to defend the right of every child, born and unborn, to fulfill their God-given potential,” Trump said. “For 47 years, Americans of all backgrounds have traveled from across the country to stand for life. And today, as president of the United States, I am truly proud to stand with you.”

Every child, Trump said, is a “precious and sacred gift from God.”

“Together, we must protect, cherish and defend the dignity and the sanctity of every human life. When we see the image of a baby in the womb, we glimpse the majesty of God’s creation. When…

Lawmakers in Virginia voted to approve a number of pro-LGBT laws.

According to the Virginia Mercury, the Virginia Senate voted to ban health professionals, such as counselors and psychologists, from performing conversion therapy on anyone under 18.

In that vote, 18 Republican members of the Virginia Senate voted against the ban on conversion therapy.

“I think if we looked at 95 percent of it, we could all agree on it,” said Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg. “There has been some activity over the past decade that we’d all want to ban. That would include shock therapy and … some odd camping where they took people to camps to do some odd things.

“But if you happen to be a counselor and happen to be a Christian, you are being told what you can and can’t say.”

In another approved law, the Senate voted to create uniform policies for transgender students attending public schools.

Under the law, school boards would be required to adopt policies and dress codes to prevent bullying and harassment.

In another law, the Senate voted to approve a change that will make it easier for transgender people to change their gender on their birth certificates.

The law requires “an affidavit provided by a health care provider from whom the person has received treatment stating that the person has undergone clinically appropriate treatment for the purpose of gender transition.” The law…

A Princeton University professor says the key to companies and institutions restoring public trust may lie in a sometimes-overlooked source – the wisdom of the Bible.

David W. Miller, director of the Princeton University Faith & Work Initiative, released a white paper this month declaring that “religious traditions have amassed extraordinary wisdom and learning about human nature, brokenness, and healing” that can be instrumental in helping institutions restore public trust. The paper focused on the Abrahamic faiths (Christianity, Judaism and Islam).

This year’s Edelman Trust Barometer, which surveys worldwide attitudes about public trust, found that “none of the four societal institutions” it measured – business, government, media and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) – are trusted. 

“One thing that religion tends to do really well is to think about and help heal brokenness. There’s sort of a common theme that humanity is not perfect, and that we’re broken and we make mistakes,” Miller told Christian Headlines. “… Maybe the corporate world can look at it afresh. Maybe we should pause and say, ‘Is there any wisdom, insights or lessons from these wisdom traditions?’ … These ideas are relevant today – and not just for Sunday worship hour or Saturday synagogue. They can make a difference.” 

The white paper, co-authored with Miller’s colleague…

A former abortion doctor is speaking out against the movement she formerly supported, saying more regulation of abortion clinics is needed to protect women from an “unsafe industry.”

Kathi Aultman, an OB/GYN, began performing abortions in the late 1970s but eventually changed careers due to feeling uneasy about her job. She is now pro-life.

“I’ve killed more people than Ted Bundy,” she wrote in a column for USA Today. “Coming to terms with the fact that I was a professional mass murderer was devastating, but it compelled me to speak the truth.”

The U.S. Supreme Court, she says, should uphold a Louisiana law that requires abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic. The justices will consider the law during oral arguments on March 4.

“As a gynecologist on call in the emergency room, I personally treated women experiencing severe complications, including life-threatening hemorrhage and infection from abortions, because no one at the abortion clinic had admitting privileges,” Aultman wrote. “No abortion clinic personnel ever called to give me information on a patient they were sending to the ER. This is not a safe way to practice medicine.

“… The fact is that many physicians on staff at ambulatory surgical centers are required to have hospital privileges to ensure that patient care is not compromised in the event of a…

(RNS) — More than five dozen young United Methodist clergywomen are circulating an open letter claiming there was no justice in the denomination’s “just resolution” process for the four women who accused the Rev. Donald “Bud” Heckman of sexual misconduct.

And while that resolution ended the judicial process against Heckman, it could be reopened, according to the letter by the United Methodist Young Clergywomen Collective.

That’s because, the letter reads, “In continuing to deny the harm he caused, Heckman has violated the resolution.”

In its first 24 hours, the letter has received more than 500 signatures from United Methodists across the connection, the Rev. Kate Mackereth Fulton said Thursday (Jan. 23).

“I think all United Methodist clergy people, but particularly those of us who are young clergywomen, have been following this story because it’s a very familiar narrative to us,” said Mackereth Fulton, speaking on behalf of the United Methodist Young Clergywomen Collective members who wrote the letter.

“Every year, in some part of our connection, some annual conference, some (clergy member) — usually a clergyman — is quietly retired because of something inappropriate that they have done, and it has become increasingly frustrating to us to see that survivors and their stories are not part of this process.”

In November 2018, four women filed…

(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…