Thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington for a mass prayer rally on Sunday.

Organizers billed the daylong event as a "rededication of our country as One Nation Under God."

It saw worship music blare from the stage set against the backdrop of the Washington Monument.

Towing columns resembling a federal building adorned the stage, along with stained-glass windows depicting America's founders alongside a white cross.

Many in the crowd wore Trump hats and patriotic colors.

The prayer rally was organized by Freedom 250, a public-private partnership backed by the White House, as part of celebrations marking 250 years of US independence.

It saw US President Donald Trump and other top Republicans officials address the crowd alongside evangelical Protestant figures.

This has drawn criticism of the event as an overt display of Christian nationalism undermining the separation of church and state protected in the United States constitution.

Prayer rally pushed narrative of Christian nationalism

The organizers streamed a video of Trump in the White House reading verses from 2 Chronicles in the Old Testament. The video was the same footage used during a marathon Bible-reading event in April.

"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."

The verses are often cited by those who claim America was founded as a Christian nation. They see "my people" in the passage as being Americans and "land" as American land.

Other prominent officials on the program included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Hegseth referenced the mythical account that the first US President George Washington prayed "without ceasing" for his army's salvation in the winter of 1777-78 at a critical moment in the American Revolution at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

Some Christians say the account proves the United States was founded upon the biblical principles of Christian faith.

Let's pray to "our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," said Hegseth, who has infused Christian language and prayer with his role leading the Pentagon. "Let us pray without ceasing. Let us pray for our nation on bended knee."

Hegseth even more directly tied the US' founding to Christianity at a National Prayer Breakfast in February 2026, when he stated, "America was founded as a Christian nation."

Apart from an Orthodox rabbi and a retired Catholic archbishop, the faith leaders invited to speak at Sunday's prayer rally were almost all conservative evangelical Protestants.

They included Paula White-Cain of the White House Faith Office and evangelist Franklin Graham of Samaritan's Purse.

And like Hegesth, most speakers celebrated Christianity's ties to American history.

Evangelical Christians form a powerful lobby in the United States, and the vast majority of them vote Republican. 

Progressive groups staged counterprogramming

Among groups staging counter-events were the Freedom from Religion Foundation, which advocates a strict separation of church and state, and the Christian organization Faithful America.

The two groups displayed a large balloon near the mall of a Trump-like golden calf, in a biblical reference to idolatry.

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."

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru