Thousands of people streamed onto the National Mall on Sunday for a daylong prayer rally billed as a 'rededication of our country as One Nation under God.' Against the backdrop of the Washington Monument, worship music blared from a stage whose design made the event's Christian emphasis unmistakable: arched stained-glass windows set beneath grand columns resembling a federal building depicted the nation's founders alongside a white cross. The event, titled Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise and Thanksgiving, was organized by Freedom 250 — a nonprofit that operates as a public-private partnership backed by the White House — and is intended to launch the broader America 250 semiquincentennial anniversary cycle. About 15,000 attendees were expected, according to NBC4 Washington, with gates opening at 9 a.m. and the main program running from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
President Donald Trump addressed the gathering through a video filmed in the Oval Office — the same footage aired during a marathon Bible-reading event the previous month. In the video, Trump read from 2 Chronicles 7, including the verse: 'If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.' The verses are frequently cited by those who argue the United States was founded as a Christian nation, a claim disputed by many historians. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., delivered a prayer of rededication from the stage, praising America's founding principles and explicitly linking the nation's independence to Christian faith. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also participated, as did Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in a prerecorded video.
Hegseth, Johnson and the Founding Narrative
Hegseth, who has increasingly woven Christian language and worship into his leadership of the Pentagon, asked the crowd in his video to pray to 'our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.' Invoking George Washington's personal faith, he said: 'Let us pray without ceasing. Let us pray for our nation on bended knee.' Among the religious figures on the program were several of Trump's longtime evangelical allies: Franklin Graham of Samaritan's Purse, Paula White-Cain of the White House Faith Office, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Bishop Robert Barron, Pastor Robert Jeffress, Pastor Samuel Rodriguez, and Cissie Graham Lynch — the daughter of Franklin Graham and granddaughter of the late evangelist Billy Graham. Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, who serves on the Trump administration's Religious Liberty Commission, was the only non-Christian religious leader listed on the program. Speakers also mentioned the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk from the stage.
The crowd included families who had traveled from across the country specifically for the event. Alessandra Seawright, 15, who came from Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her mother and who had also attended Kirk's memorial service, told the AP: 'I think we just need more of this in our country, and we just need to share the word of the Lord. We love going to events like this.' Events like Rededicate 250, she said, make her feel less alone in her conservative Christian beliefs. Most speakers on the program argued that Christianity is inseparable from the American founding — a position shared by the event's organizers and reinforced by the rally's stage imagery, which placed the cross alongside portraits of the founders.
Critics Flag Church-State Concerns
The event drew immediate pushback from religious and political voices across the spectrum. The Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, a Baptist minister who leads the progressive Christian organisation Sojourners, said: 'We are deeply concerned that what is really being rededicated is a nation to a very narrow and ideological part of the Christian faith that betrays our nation's fundamental commitment to religious freedom.' Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., was more direct: 'What should be a broadly unifying celebration has been politically hijacked and wrapped up in this MAGA narrative that tries to rewrite our history and promote the president's agenda.' Congressional Democrats have also raised concerns about Freedom 250's nonprofit structure and finances, characterising the organisation as a White House-controlled end run around a separate America 250 commission that Congress chartered a decade ago to manage the semiquincentennial.
Progressive groups organised counterprogramming on the Mall. The Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Christian organisation Faithful America jointly displayed a large balloon depicting a Trump-like golden calf — a biblical image of idolatry — near the event site. On Thursday, the Interfaith Alliance projected protest slogans directly onto an exterior wall of the National Gallery of Art. Two of the messages read: 'Democracy not theocracy' and 'The separation of church and state is good for both.' Law enforcement agencies, including MPD, the Secret Service, and the FBI, had coordinated security preparations for more than a year ahead of the event. D.C. Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Lindsey Appiah told reporters: 'We will be ready.' No specific credible threats had been identified as of Sunday morning, according to NBC4 Washington.
