Wednesday's Church Briefing: A Jailed Father, Faith in the Courts, a Region's First Vote
From Hong Kong to Manila, Wednesday's reporting followed faith communities pressing against state power — through a son's plea, through lawsuits, and at the ballot box.
Daily Briefing
Today
Wednesday's Church Briefing: A Jailed Father, Faith in the Courts, a Region's First Vote
Good morning. The day's most consequential story came from Hong Kong. Religion News Service reported that Sebastien Lai has pressed Pope Leo XIV to help secure the release of his father, Jimmy Lai, from jail. Sebastien Lai said his father's health is deteriorating after nearly six years in solitary confinement. The appeal puts a son's plea about a still-imprisoned man directly before the pope.
In the United States, Religion News Service published a tracker it built with the Law, Rights, and Religion Project. It found that eighty religious plaintiffs from 11 major faith traditions have joined lawsuits challenging the Trump administration's immigration policies. The breadth is the point. Opposition in the courts is not confined to any one tradition.
From Manila, Religion News Service carried an Associated Press report on the first elections in a Muslim region of the southern Philippines. Officials said turnout was over 80%. Five people were killed in election-related violence in the regional capital. Polling was extended to a second day in some precincts over a suspected effort to cheat.
Two items concerned the musician Macklemore. Religion News Service, citing the Associated Press, reported that he was dropped from Ed Sheeran's tour over pro-Palestinian comments made onstage. Macklemore said on Instagram that several U.S. venues told the promoter they would prohibit him from performing as Sheeran's opening act for the Loop tour. In a companion piece, Religion News Service set out five religion takeaways from the cancelation and noted that the charge that criticism of Israel amounts to antisemitism is highly contested.
Religion News Service, again through the Associated Press, reported from Namisindwa, Uganda, on rainmakers who are paid to bring rain. They have long served as spiritual leaders in their communities, performing rituals to ask deities to bring rain. When rain fails, or when it leads to floods, violence can follow.
The day's commentary ranged widely. Christianity Today ran a piece adapted from Russell Moore's newsletter arguing that the technology's unappealing promoters may be telling the truth about what is at stake. The Gospel Coalition examined an overlooked apologetics strategy from C. S. Lewis, which it called a first step toward turning modern minds in the direction of Christian faith. Anglican Ink reviewed Simon Sebag Montefiore's "The Cauldron, the Making of the Modern Middle East," published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Religion News Service offered two reflections: one on what an ancient Hindu text says about genocide, warning that justice pursued without compassion can become its opposite, and one on what the resistance can learn from Yom Kippur.
Charisma News, citing the New York Post, reported that Arthur Lundeen, 67, the man restrained aboard American Airlines Flight 618, has spoken publicly about the incident for the first time; the outlet linked the episode to Jonathan Cahn.
Religion News Service also published its Photos of the Week, which included the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and the annual Hindu Ganesha festival. And in a press release carried by Religion News Service from Nashville Publicity Group, the faith-first platform ActsSocial reported a major surge in new-member registrations as it expands its global reach.
Zoom out: Much of the day's reporting turned on faith meeting state power — a son's appeal to the pope for his jailed father, a multi-tradition challenge to immigration policy, and a Muslim region's first elections.
What we're following
- Religion News Service: Jimmy Lai’s son pushes Pope Leo XIV to get father out of jail in Hong Kong Read it
- Charisma News: ‘Duct-Taped Man’ Arthur Lundeen Breaks Silence After Jonathan Cahn Flight 618 Attack Read it
- Anglican Ink: Knowledge is the elixir: A review of Simon Sebag Montefiore’s ‘The Cauldron, the Making of the Modern Middle East’ Read it
- Christianity Today: AI Tech Bros Seem Awful. They Might Be Telling Us the Truth. Read it
Sources
- Jimmy Lai’s son pushes Pope Leo XIV to get father out of jail in Hong Kong Religion News Service
- ‘Duct-Taped Man’ Arthur Lundeen Breaks Silence After Jonathan Cahn Flight 618 Attack Charisma News
- Knowledge is the elixir: A review of Simon Sebag Montefiore’s ‘The Cauldron, the Making of the Modern Middle East’ Anglican Ink
- AI Tech Bros Seem Awful. They Might Be Telling Us the Truth. Christianity Today
- C. S. Lewis’s Overlooked Apologetics Strategy The Gospel Coalition
- Is ‘Free Palestine’ antisemitic? Here are 5 religion takeaways from the Macklemore cancelation Religion News Service
- RNS tracked the religious lawsuits against Trump’s immigration policies. Here’s what we found. Religion News Service
- What an ancient Hindu text has to say about genocide Religion News Service
- What the resistance can learn from Yom Kippur Religion News Service
- Photos of the Week: 9/11 anniversary, Ganesha festival Religion News Service
- ActsSocial Reports Major Surge in New-Member Registrations as Faith-First Platform Expands Global Reach Religion News Service
- Muslim region in southern Philippines holds first elections Religion News Service
- They are paid to bring rain. When it fails — or leads to floods — violence can follow Religion News Service
- Macklemore is dropped from Ed Sheeran’s tour over pro-Palestinian comments onstage Religion News Service
Summarized from the linked reports by the FaithDaily desk. Verify against the original sources before citing.
Previous briefings
All briefings →- 15 Sept 2026Tuesday's briefing: a religious-freedom nominee, AI's costs weighed, and a Synod race opensA high-profile nomination to a religious-freedom post led a day in which churches also reckoned with artificial intelligence, a fresh Church of England campaign, and hard questions over life, policy and the wider world.
- 14 Sept 2026Westminster rejects assisted dying as a crowded Monday tests the churchesMPs voted down the assisted dying bill for England and Wales, while Anglican leaders addressed relations with British Jews, a bishop's safety in Nigeria and honours at Lambeth Palace.
- 13 Sept 2026A Ninth Embassy in Jerusalem Leads the Day's Church NewsA South Pacific nation's embassy in Jerusalem leads a day that also brought a congressman's new book, an English village weighing secession, a 9/11 prayer walk, and one writer's testimony.
- 12 Sept 2026Church Briefing: An Archbishop's Interfaith Meeting, and Leadership Changes Across the CommunionLeadership changed hands across the Anglican Communion, while other outlets weighed faith's place in politics and technology.
- 11 Sept 2026Daily Briefing, Friday 11 September: Assisted dying returns to the Commons as two churches choose new leadersThe assisted dying bill returned to the Commons, with the Archbishop of Canterbury having urged MPs to reject it, as churches in Japan and Florida chose new leaders and National Baptists in the United States pressed for voter turnout.