President Donald Trump and several of his top Cabinet officials are participating in a Sunday prayer gathering on the National Mall that organizers call a “rededication of our country as One Nation Under God” on the occasion of America’s 250th birthday, but opponents charge is a government-endorsed Christian nationalist event, the Associated Press reported.
The daylong program, called Rededicate 250, is organized by the nonprofit Freedom 250. Its website describes it as a public-private partnership “leading the presidential programming for America’s 250th anniversary,” which culminates with the Declaration of Independence on July 4. Congressional Democrats have questioned the organization’s structure and finances, suggesting it is a Trump-controlled end run around a separate commission chartered by Congress a decade ago to plan semiquincentennial events.
Trump and several other speakers are addressing the crowd by video, while others will appear in person. Scheduled participants include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
In a promotional video, Hegseth said, “Our rights don’t come from government, they come from God. And a nation is only as strong as its faith.” Hegseth’s use of Christian rhetoric to justify the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran has drawn scrutiny.
The event’s religious lineup includes several longtime Christian supporters of Trump: evangelist Franklin Graham, White House Faith Office director Paula White-Cain, and pastors Robert Jeffress and Samuel Rodriguez. Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Robert Barron are also scheduled, as is Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, the only faith leader on the program representing a non-Christian faith. Grammy-winning contemporary Christian artist Chris Tomlin is among the musicians.
Pastor Jentezen Franklin of Georgia said in a social media video that the gathering is “a moment when the Body of Christ, the church, comes together and will boldly declare that America still needs God.” House Speaker Johnson noted the event comes 250 years after Congress declared May 17, 1776, a “day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer” on behalf of the Revolutionary cause.
Critics say the event promotes Christian nationalism—the belief that the United States was founded as and should be a Christian nation. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), co-chair of the Congressional Freethought Caucus, said it “has been politically hijacked and wrapped up in this MAGA narrative that tries to rewrite our history and promote the president’s agenda.”
Huffman added that the event “would have the founders rolling in their graves” and that organizers “have narrowly defined what it means both to be American and to be Christian, and they are wrapping that in the official sanction of the U.S. government.”
Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, called it “the government putting on a Christian nationalist event” and said, “Even if it is accepting private money for it, it’s still putting it on. It’s outrageous.” The foundation plans a counter-demonstration in Washington the same day.
Baptist pastor Brian Kaylor, president of Word&Way, noted that while the Continental Congress called for a day of prayer, the founders later crafted a Constitution that prevents the establishment of religion. The event “simply doesn’t represent what type of nation the founders later decided to create,” he wrote.
A Pew Research Center survey conducted in April found that about 2 in 10 U.S. adults and roughly one-quarter of Republicans believe the federal government should declare Christianity the official religion. About 43% of all adults said the government should not do so but should promote Christian values, while 38% said it should do neither. The survey found that 13% of U.S. adults and 18% of Republicans said the government should stop enforcing the separation of church and state.
The Rededicate 250 event occurs alongside other Trump administration initiatives appealing to conservative Christians. Several participants—including Graham, White-Cain, Dolan, Barron, and Soloveichik—serve on the Religious Liberty Commission, a Trump-appointed panel preparing a report after a year of hearings. Its chair, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), has repeatedly denied that the Constitution establishes a separation of church and state.
A separate Trump administration task force recently alleged discrimination against Christians under Democratic President Joe Biden, a report progressive groups criticized as “advocacy dressed up as investigation.” Choirs from Grand Canyon University and Liberty University, both of which previously faced—and in one case later saw reversed—fines involving student deception and crime statistics, are scheduled to perform at the gathering.