Today

Westminster rejects assisted dying as a crowded Monday tests the churches

By The FaithDaily Desk

Good morning. The day's most consequential news came from the House of Commons, where MPs voted against giving a Second Reading to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, Anglican Ink reported. Religion News Service, carrying an Associated Press report, said UK lawmakers had voted down the bill that would have allowed assisted dying in England and Wales. The government took a neutral stance, RNS reported, so members voted according to conscience rather than party lines, and many relayed their own stories both for and against.

The Bishop of Newcastle, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, welcomed the outcome. "I am relieved that the Assisted Dying Bill has been defeated today," she said, according to Anglican Ink.

Anglican Ink also reported that a meeting between the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, had, in its account, effectively sidelined a motion the outlet described as anti-Israel that the Church of England's General Synod passed in July 2026. Separately, the outlet reported that the Archbishop of Canterbury presented Lambeth Awards to 27 people in the Great Hall of Lambeth Palace on Friday 11 September, recognising contributions to the Church of England, the Anglican Communion and wider society.

From Nigeria, Anglican Ink reported that the Bishop of Jos, the Rt Rev Prof Ephraim J. Gongden, said he was the ultimate intended target of a foiled plot that had initially been directed at the wives of the serving and retired Anglican bishops of Jos. Police in Plateau State confirmed the arrest of suspects, the outlet said.

In the United States, Religion News Service, again carrying AP reporting, described Minnesota congregations still feeling the repercussions of a weekslong surge in immigration operations last winter, amid a legal battle over ICE surveillance and the right to protest; even churches uninvolved in the court cases reported effects. In North Carolina, RNS reported that the opening prayer at a rally for the Republican Senate nominee was delivered by Pastor Daimon L. King, a registered sex offender who, according to state and court records, had twice been sentenced to prison for convictions involving children.

From Vatican City, RNS, carrying AP, reported that the Holy See published a decree repealing salary cuts imposed on many Vatican employees in 2021 under Pope Francis as a COVID-19 cost-saving measure. The report tied the decision to the pope's 71st birthday.

Elsewhere, Christianity Today published a reflection on the writer Wendell Berry, who died on August 31 at the age of 92. Religion News Service ran a reflection on a Gospel text about forgiveness, published in the days around the 9/11 anniversary, and reported on Midwest farmers who describe regenerative agriculture in spiritual terms. Charisma News reported more than 80 earthquakes striking Southern California along the Pacific Ring of Fire, RNS assessed continued instability around the Strait of Hormuz and the war with Iran, and The Gospel Coalition ran an interview with Timothy Larsen on his reading life.

What we're following

Religion News Service: What to do with a Gospel text that asks us to forgive two days after 9/11? Read it
Charisma News: More Than 80 Earthquakes Strike Southern California as Pacific Ring of Fire Roars to Life Read it
Anglican Ink: Mullally calms the Anglican-Jewish waters Read it
Christianity Today: Wendell Berry, ‘Bad-Weather Churchgoer’ Read it

Sources