The Morning Verse
The Morning Verse
A Prayer for the Tired
For anyone who comes to the end of the day with more questions than strength.
Daily Briefing
Briefing for Wednesday, 30 September: church doorsteps, courtrooms and a name under review
The most consequential item came from Religion News Service, which reported that over the past year the Trump administration has issued contradictory and, at times, seemingly false statements about whether federal immigration agents have conducted operations at churches. RNS's account holds that such arrests have in fact taken place, despite official denials. The question matters to any congregation weighing whether its doors remain a place of refuge.
The courts featured twice. Charisma News reported that a federal appeals court ruled a century-old, 10-foot wooden cross and a nativity display in Los Angeles will not be banned or torn down; the display had been challenged in a 2025 lawsuit. Separately, Religion News Service, carrying a piece from The Conversation, reported that a new application for a religious charter school in Oklahoma is reviving questions about the constitutionality of public aid to faith-based institutions, after an earlier deadlocked Supreme Court decision left the matter unresolved.