{"id":649023,"date":"2026-05-17T18:49:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T18:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/649023\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T18:49:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T18:49:29","slug":"thousands-gather-in-washington-for-an-america-themed-prayer-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/649023\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands gather in Washington for an America-themed prayer rally"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Thousands of people streamed onto the National Mall for a daylong prayer rally<\/a> Sunday billed as a \u201crededication of our country as One Nation under God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Against the backdrop of the Washington Monument, worship music blared from a stage that made clear the event\u2019s Christian focus. Arched stained-glass windows, set underneath grand columns resembling a federal building, depicted the nation\u2019s founders alongside a white cross.<\/p>\n

Several speakers celebrated Christianity\u2019s ties to American history, a blending of ideas that critics flagged ahead of the prayer gathering as supporting Christian nationalism.<\/p>\n

From the stage, the Rev. Robert Jeffress embraced the term, which is often taken as a pejorative. \u201cIf being a Christian nationalist means loving Jesus Christ and loving America, count me in,\u201d said the prominent Southern Baptist pastor.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump was expected to address the gathering in a video message. Other top Republicans, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., were also on the schedule as part of the celebrations this year marking 250 years of U.S. independence.<\/p>\n

Only one name on the Rededicate 250 program was not Christian. Most were among Trump\u2019s longtime evangelical supporters, including Paula White-Cain of the White House Faith Office<\/a> and evangelist Franklin Graham of Samaritan\u2019s Purse.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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\u2019s fundamental commitment to religious freedom,\u201d said the Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, a Baptist minister who leads the progressive Christian organization Sojourners.<\/p>\n

The conservative Christian lineup featured guests who often argue that the United States was founded as a Christian nation<\/a>, a narrative disputed by many historians and other religious traditions.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, noted the religious diversity of early America, including Jews, Muslims and Indigenous people. \u201cI want to shine a light on America\u2019s history as a nation that welcomes, celebrates, and protects people of all faiths and those of no faith,\u201d Pesner said.<\/p>\n

Hegseth, who has infused Christian language and worship<\/a> with his role leading the Pentagon<\/a>, asked the gathering in a video to pray to \u201cour Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\u201d Referencing George Washington\u2019s faith, he said, \u201cLet us pray without ceasing. Let us pray for our nation on bended knee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Meir Soloveichik was the only non-Christian religious leader listed on the program. He serves on the Trump administration\u2019s Religious Liberty Commission<\/a> along with White-Cain, Graham and Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Robert Barron, Catholic clerics also featured on the program.<\/p>\n

The event was organized by Freedom 250, a public-private partnership backed by the White House. Congressional Democrats have questioned the nonprofit\u2019s structure and finances<\/a>, which they see as a Trump-controlled end run around a separate commission charted by Congress a decade ago to prepare semiquincentennial events.<\/p>\n

Progressive groups planned counterprogramming. Among them were the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which advocates a strict separation of church and state, and the Christian group Faithful America.<\/p>\n

On Thursday evening, the Interfaith Alliance projected protest slogans onto an exterior wall of the National Gallery of Art. \u201cDemocracy not theocracy,\u201d said one. Another said: \u201cThe separation of church and state is good for both.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Peter Smith in Pittsburgh contributed to this report. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration<\/a> with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Thousands of people streamed onto the National Mall for a daylong prayer rally Sunday billed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[279985,23,218523,7969,3506,3505,12,279983,793,28964,643,279986,13410,3,250508,1572,111,2229,147914,279984,279987,272783,21,19,22,20,25,24,800],"class_list":["post-649023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-adam-russell","tag-america","tag-america-at-250","tag-christianity","tag-dc-wire","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-donald-trump","tag-franklin-graham","tag-general-news","tag-george-washington","tag-marco-rubio","tag-meir-soloveichik","tag-mike-johnson","tag-news","tag-paula-white-cain","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-politics","tag-religion","tag-religion-and-politics","tag-robert-barron","tag-robert-jeffress","tag-timothy-dolan","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-washington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}