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Thousands Flocked to National Mall in Washington for America-Themed Prayer Rally 21%
By TIFFANY STANLEY0%
5/17/2026, 10:06:44 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 28 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Appeal to Authority, and Biased Writer Voice, with Framing Effect as the most egregious example at 21.8% saturation with 148 hits. Analysis detected 1,501 faulty-reasoning hits from 679 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 35.1% and a BS Rank of 21% (13,329 of 16,813 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 79.30% of the article peer group.
Thousands of people streamed onto the National Mall for a daylong prayer rally 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.
Most speakers celebrated Christianity's ties to American history.
President Donald Trump read a passage of Scripture in a video shown at the rally.
Filmed in the Oval Office, it was the same footage used during a marathon Bible-reading event last month.
The verses from 2 Chronicles are often cited by those who believe America was founded as a Christian nation.
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways," Trump read, "then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
Other top Republicans, including War 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.
Only one name on the Rededicate 250 program 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.
The conservative Christian lineup featured guests who often argue that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, a narrative disputed by many historians and other religious traditions.
Many in the crowd wore Trump hats and patriotic colors, joining the festivities under a sweltering sun.
"It's all about Jesus," said Denny Smith, 72, of Rhode Island, who rented a motorized scooter to traverse the National Mall.
Retha Bond, 58 and from southern Illinois, also heard Trump speak not far away on Jan.
6, 2021.
She said she did not join the protesters later that day at the Capitol but has remained a steadfast Trump supporter.
"I'm not saying Trump is the savior," Bond said.
She added that "this is one of the most important things that could be going on in the world, for us to rededicate our nation back to God."
At least one event speaker mentioned the late conservative leader Charlie Kirk from the stage.
Kirk's activism has been a powerful example for Alessandra Seawright, 15, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, who came to Rededicate 250 with her mother.
"I think we just need more of this in our country, and we just need to share the word of the Lord," she said.
"We love going to events like this."
They also attended Kirk's memorial service, which mixed Christian worship and political messages.
Events like these, Seawright said, help her feel less alone in her conservative Christian beliefs.
Hegseth, who has infused Christian language and worship with his role leading the Pentagon, asked the gathering in a video to pray to "our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
Referencing George Washington's faith, he said, "Let us pray without ceasing.
Let us pray for our nation on bended knee."
Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Meir Soloveichik was the only non-Christian religious leader listed on the program.
To applause, he told the crowd, "Antisemitism is utterly un-American" — a seeming reference to debates dividing the right.
Soloveichik serves on the Trump administration's Religious Liberty Commission along with White-Cain, Graham, and Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Robert Barron, Catholic clerics also featured on the program.
The event was organized by Freedom 250, a public-private partnership backed by the White House.
Progressive groups staged counterprogramming.
Among them were the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which advocates a strict separation of church and state, and the Christian organization Faithful America.
On Thursday evening, the Interfaith Alliance projected protest slogans onto an exterior wall of the National Gallery of Art.
"Democracy not theocracy," said one.
Another said: "The separation of church and state is good for both."
Analysis
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