'Pray without ceasing.' Trump, aides rally Christian faithful on National Mall

WASHINGTON − Faith leaders from various Christian denominations − and one rabbi − gathered on the National Mall to pray, sing and speak about America's religious foundation in an event critics said favors one faith at the expense of others.

Rededicate 250 brought together religious and political leaders, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, as well as Franklin Graham, Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Rabbi Meir Soloveichik.

President Donald Trump read a passage in a video greeting from 1 Kings Chapter 9, in which God warns King Solomon against turning away from him as Solomon consecrates the temple in Jerusalem. Johnson later took the stage and led a "prayer of rededication," which framed America’s founding as guided by divine providence.

In pre-recorded remarks, Hegseth invoked George Washington, the nation’s first president: "Let us pray as he did. Let us pray without ceasing. Let us pray for our nation on bended knee."

The May 17 event in the nation's capital, a "National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise, and Thanksgiving," was billed as a call to "gather a broad assembly of voices united by a love of God and country," tied to the nation's 250th birthday. It's part of the Trump administration's Freedom 250 initiative, which is separate from the nonpartisan America250 celebrations of the country's semiquincentennial.

The all-day festival was financed in part by federal funds. USA TODAY previously reported that the Department of the Interior allocated $100 million in taxpayer funds to Freedom 250, though the amount used for the Rededicate 250 event has not been fully disclosed.

One speaker directly rejected critiques of the event as he addressed worshippers gathered in Washington.

"We know that we live in serious times because the Declaration of Independence itself is controversial," said Dr. Larry Arnn, president of Hillsdale College, a private, Christian school in Michigan. "Its meaning is contested or repudiated. Its authors are condemned. This very meeting is criticized as an attempt to turn America into a Christian nation." 

Johnson leads crowd in prayer, warns against 'sinister ideologies'

During Johnson's prayer, he said the United States was built on biblical principles that "all men are created equal and free." He cited the Declaration of Independence and the country’s early founders, and highlighted key moments in American history, including the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War II, the Civil Rights Movement and the response to the Sept. 11 attacks.

“Our rights do not derive from the government. They come from you: Our Creator and Heavenly Father," Johnson said.

He also referenced leaders, including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, saying faith helped guide the United States through periods of crisis. Johnson then warned that “sinister ideologies” were threatening the nation's moral and spiritual identity.

"These voices insist to the young and impressionable that our story − the American story − is one of oppression and hypocrisy and failure, and that this story can only be understood through the lens of our sins," Johnson said. "But Father, we reject that, we rebuke it."

Rubio: 'This is who we are, this is who we've always been'

In a pre-recorded video, Secretary of State Marco Rubio talked about the faith of American revolutionaries and traced the role of Christian faith through the expansion west, driven in part by missionaries who aimed to spread the Gospel, Samuel Morse's invention of the telegraph and his first words on it (from the Bible's Book of Numbers, "What hath God wrought?") all the way to the astronauts of the 20th century who cited scripture to describe the sight of Earth from space.

"Our nation more than any other was shaped" by the idea that faith brought freedom, Rubio said.

"This is who we are," Rubio said. "This is who we've always been."

Hours-long wait to get into Rededicate 250

Thousands of attendees waited in three-plus hour lines that spanned several blocks on in the over 80 degree heat for the opportunity to hear the influential political and religious speakers and performances inside the National Mall.

Others, like Eric and Lisa Keiser, from Waterford, Pennsylvania, listened from outside the adjacent National Museum of Natural History, where the speeches and music still carried through the crowd as people milled around the Mall enjoying the day’s festivities.

"It’s beautiful to see people come from all over the country to share this experience and hear the music and worship and rededicate America," Lisa Keiser said.

Eric Keiser said the day’s event gave people "a chance to show there are other people out there that feel the same way they do," adding that Rededicate 250 fostered a sense of camaraderie among attendees.

As crowds slowly filtered onto the Mall, attendees tried to keep spirits high by handing out Christian reading material or "Jesus Saves" bracelets, while others joined together in worship songs. Organizers offered water to people waiting in line.

Phillip and Jennifer Day, of Fluvanna County, Virginia, arrived the previous day for the Let Us Worship event outside the Washington Monument. Though they said they hadn’t anticipated the long waits and difficulty getting into Sunday’s event, they still welcomed the chance to spend the weekend among people who shared their values and beliefs.

"There are a lot of us that don’t care for Republican or Democrat, black or white or brown, tall or short," Phillip Day said. "We want to be around people of good character and treat each other well."

"With love," Jennifer Day added.

Amid deep political and cultural divides across the country, Jennifer Day said she saw Rededicate 250 as an opportunity for people to come together through shared faith.

"There is so much division now. I feel like people are looking to see things kind of the way they maybe used to be, being more unified," she said. "And ultimately God’s the only one who can unify us."

'God Bless America' is 'not simply a song,' rabbi says

Meir Soloveichik, senior rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York and the only non-Christian speaker, gave remarks after a performance of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" and talked about the Russian-born songwriter bearing witness to pogroms in his native country. The rabbi also told the crowd about the famous musician's gratitude to find refuge in America "at the very moment when darkness raged abroad," and Nazism spread.

"God Bless America," Soloveichik said, "is not simply a song," but "a plaintive prayer to God that America continue to be blessed."

It is also, he said, "a reminder as hatred of Jews manifests again that hatred of Jews is utterly un-American," and that "to sing this song is to be reminded that America's story is unique."

A report released earlier this year by the the Anti-Defamation League found that antisemitic assaults in the United States reached record levels in 2025.

Tim Scott, Alveda King center Civil Rights and religion

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican in the Senate, delivered a rousing speech focused on his personal faith and religion’s intersection with critical moments in American history.

“From the Civil War to World War II to the landing on the Moon, Americans have looked to God for guidance, for peace and for strength,” Scott said.

He said the same commitment to faith powered the Civil Rights Movement, which was rooted in African American churches. The senator called the congregations “a body of believers who refused to let go of God.”

Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., also connected the movement to which her uncle dedicated his life to the day's events, thanking Trump "for inviting us to pray."

The Civil Rights Movement, she said, "was shaped in the pulpits of America... and sustained by the power of prayer."

Pastor tells attendees 'we are in a spiritual war'

Gary Hamrick, senior pastor at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia, compared the Revolutionary and Civil Wars to what he called a modern-day spiritual conflict.

"Today friends, we are in a spiritual war," Hamrick said. "This is a battle in our day between good and evil, between right and wrong, between truth and lies, between light and darkness," Hamrick said.

"This is a battle for the very soul of America, but please know this: Our hope is not lost," he told the crowd.

"Our hope is built on Jesus' blood, our hope is built on Jesus Christ, our hope is built on nothing else than Jesus' blood and righteousness," Hamrick continued.

Critics accuse event of being 'intentionally exclusive'

Fourteen of the 15 faith leaders who were to participate in the event are Christian, including seven evangelical leaders and two Catholic. Soloveichik, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, was the only non-Christian religious leader who was to participate.

In March, Freedom 250 told USA TODAY it was in talks with leaders from a variety of non-Christian religions for the event, including Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism. But as of May 17, none were on the event's list of participants.

Some critics, historians and religious groups have targeted the event over this. The Interfaith Alliance is suing the Trump administration and called Rededicate 250 "intentionally exclusive."

"This is really an affront to the American religious community," Rev. Paul Raushenbush, CEO of the Interfaith Alliance and a Baptist minister, told USA TODAY earlier this month. "They are using an event like this, which could be the opportunity to showcase the incredible diversity of American religious life, which is so rich and beautiful and powerful ... to rewrite American history."

Contributing: Karissa Waddick, USA TODAY

Phaedra Trethan is a national correspondent for USA TODAY, writing about history and Americana. Contact her by email at [email protected], on X @wordsbyphaedra, on BlueSky @byphaedra, or on Threads @by_phaedra.