A massive religious gathering on the National Mall backed by the White House is sparking backlash from critics who say it blurs the lines between church and state.
The unprecedented appearance of government officials featured virtual remarks from members of the administration including Vice President Vance, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. President Trump also delivered a brief virtual message in which he read from the Old Testament.
The daylong prayer rally, pegged as part of the America 250 celebrations, comes as concerns mount about the administration’s push for more Christian prayer and religious symbols in schools and for faith-based organizations to get federal funding.
Some critics questioned the constitutionality of the event.
“Rededicate 250 is a betrayal of America’s founding values guaranteed in the First Amendment — which made clear that there shall be no establishment of religion by the government, and that each one of us should be free to live out our beliefs in our own way,” Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president and CEO of Interfaith Alliance, said in a statement.
“This event used the power of the government to elevate one thin slice of American religion above others,” he said. “It was a political rally with a political agenda, rather than an event that truly celebrated the long, rich and diverse tradition of religious expression in America.”
Trump read verses from the Book of Chronicles in a video that was filmed in the Oval Office.
Other Republican officials were also sprinkled into the agenda.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), an evangelical and Southern Baptist, led the crowd in prayer, saying God has been “upon our nation since the very beginning.”
He said that as America’s 250th birthday approaches, “we face a new set of challenges in a new era,” and he called out “sinister ideologies” and advocated for “renewed piety and patriotism.”
Vance, who is Catholic, said in his video remarks that if the faith foundation of the U.S. “were to crumble, so too would the very values that make us Americans.”
The event, dubbed “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving,” was described as one “rooted in giving thanks for God’s presence in our national life throughout 250 years of American history and asking for his guidance for the next 250.”
It was hosted by Freedom 250, a public-private partnership backed by the White House that is leading events to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday this year, and featured a long list of faith leaders, mostly evangelical Christians, along with a rabbi and two Catholic bishops.
Several critics took issue with the event blurring the lines between church and state, as it received so much public backing from the administration.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and CEO Rachel Laser dubbed the event “a government-sponsored national church service” and called it “extremely problematic.”
“This should alarm all Americans who are patriotic,” Laser said Sunday on CSPAN. “In America, we separate church and state in order to protect religious freedom for all.”
The White House referred The Hill to Freedom 250 for comment.
Freedom 250 spokesperson Rachel Reisner said the organization was “proud to represent Rededicate 250.”
“Rededicate 250 is rooted in the belief that America is strongest when we come together around the shared values that unite us: faith, liberty, sacrifice, and love of country,” she said.
The event comes as worries mount over how much the Trump administration is injecting religion into federal government operations.
The Religious Liberty Commission, established last May, has received similar criticism, including for its lack of diversity. The majority of its 13 members are Christian.
Michael Moreland, a professor of law and religion at Villanova University, said worries about the blurring of lines is more a political decision by Trump and his administration.
“The people who are maybe anxious about too much of a blending of church and state think that that’s not wise on the part of those people to do that, but that’s a more of a prudential political judgment than it is anything to do with constitutional restrictions on their ability to participate in these kinds of events,” he said.
Johnson also defended the event, writing on the social platform X about the “true meaning” of the separation of church and state.
“Anyone who has been misled to believe that religious principles and viewpoints must be separated from public affairs should be reminded to review their history,” he wrote.
