On the National Mall in Washington, D.C., thousands of people gathered on May 17 for a prayer event organizers described as partially funded and organized by the Trump administration, called “Rededicate 250.” NPR reporter Emily Feng said the lawn was busy as attendees streamed in, singing and setting up picnic blankets as the crowd gathered to “rededicate the nation” to God.
Feng said Religion News Service reporter Jack Jenkins observed security measures that were “super tight,” and described the crowd as “overwhelmingly evangelical,” including people who identified with evangelical or nondenominational churches. Jenkins also told Feng that the event’s iconography—such as U.S.-themed clothing and crosses—reflected its framing as part of a 250th celebration of the United States.
Jenkins said the lineup combined musical acts with faith leaders and government officials. He named Speaker Mike Johnson, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Tim Scott as among the government officials appearing at the event, and he described the pastors on stage as largely evangelical advisers and supporters of President Donald Trump. Jenkins also said Paula White was scheduled to appear at least via video, and he said Catholic representation was present while noting that, to his knowledge at the time, only one non-Christian—“a rabbi from New York City” who sat on Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission—was on the docket.
As Feng spoke with attendees in line, several described the event’s purpose in explicitly religious terms. Yasmin Tobias, traveling from New York City with a church group, said the nation was being “dedicating” to God and described Rededicate 250 as a response to what she said was a loss of a sense of who God is. Ian Cully said the country had been founded on “Christian principles” and that “we have lost our way,” describing the need for leaders to seek God first.
Other attendees framed the event as compatible with limited forms of church-state separation. Victoria Gomare told Feng that Trump “separates it from the government because he’s not enforcing it on anyone,” calling it a program that allows people to “worship God” rather than a law or regulation. Don Powell, whom Feng said was among counterprotesters nearby, criticized the idea of the government funding what he called “church and state stuff,” saying it conflicted with a country founded on separation of church and state.
On stage, Pew Research poll findings and arguments about the founding era’s relationship to religion also circulated through interviews. Feng said a speaker, Eric Metaxas, described the event as a public acknowledgment of God and said, in an exchange captured by NPR, that the event reflects how founders and religious history saw a need for God’s help. In the same segment, Feng pressed Metaxas on whether the U.S. founders intended a “wall of separation,” and she said Metaxas argued that Jefferson’s wording aimed to reassure religious groups that the federal government would not compel one religious identity.
Feng also included a contrasting view from religious scholarship. She referenced an archived NPR Weekend Edition conversation with Matthew D. Taylor, who said the Founding Fathers’ era was shaped by Enlightenment influences and that “most of the Founding Fathers were very much shaped” by that philosophy. Taylor said the founding was a “grand experiment” in “separating religion out from the functioning and identity of the state,” speaking directly to the argument over church-state separation.
As Feng described leaving the event, she noted that the message drew public headwinds beyond the crowd. She said a Pew Research poll reported that more than half of Americans do not want their government to stop enforcing separation of church and state and that less than 20% think the government should declare Christianity the official religion of the U.S., with that figure described as on the rise.