Thousands of people streamed onto the National Mall for a daylong prayer rally on Sunday 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 that made clear the event’s Christian focus. Arched stained-glass windows, set underneath grand columns resembling a federal building, depicted the nation’s founders alongside a white cross.
“America is done with God, and God is not done with America,” said Pastor Samuel Rodriguez.
The White House-backed event has drawn broad criticism for blurring the lines between church and state, as prominent Republican officials appeared to speak alongside a slate of mostly evangelical speakers.
Only one name on the Rededicate 250 program, Orthodox rabbi Meir Soloveichik, was not Christian. Most were among Trump’s longtime evangelical supporters, including Paula White-Cain of the White House faith office and evangelist Franklin Graham of Samaritan’s Purse.
“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,” said the Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, a Baptist minister who leads the progressive Christian organization Sojourners.
Senator Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, drew cheers from the crowd as he walked up to the microphone and shouted, “Are you a believer in Jesus?”
Donald Trump was expected to address the gathering, which got underway as a light rain fell, in a video message. Other top Republicans, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and House speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, were also on the schedule as part of the celebrations this year marking 250 years of US independence.
In a video message, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recounted the legend of George Washington “praying without ceasing” in Pennsylvania as his troops faced starvation.
“Let us pray as he did,” Hegseth said. “Let us pray without ceasing. Let us pray for our nation on bended knee.”
Officials expected some 15,000 people to attend, according to the Washington Post.
More than one-quarter of Americans identify as either atheist, agnostic or religiously unaffiliated, according to the Pew Research Center.