Thousands of people gathered on the National Mall Sunday for a nine-hour prayer rally billed as "Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee Of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving," marking 250 years of U.S. independence.

The event featured a stage with stained-glass windows and columns resembling a federal building, depicting the nation's founders alongside a white cross. President Donald Trump was scheduled to address the gathering via video message, while cabinet members including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared on the program.

Nearly all speakers listed were Christian, including longtime Trump evangelical supporters Paula White-Cain of the White House Faith Office and evangelist Franklin Graham. Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Meir Soloveichik was the only non-Christian religious leader on the program. Many speakers have promoted the narrative that the United States was founded as a Christian nation.

The event was organized by Freedom 250, a public-private partnership backed by the White House. Congressional Democrats have questioned the nonprofit's structure and finances, viewing it as circumventing a separate commission established by Congress to prepare semiquincentennial events.

Critics expressed concern about the blurring of church-state lines. Rev. Adam Russell Taylor of the progressive Christian organization Sojourners said the event represented "a very narrow and ideological part of the Christian faith that betrays our nation's fundamental commitment to religious freedom." Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner of Reform Judaism's Religious Action Center emphasized America's religious diversity throughout its history.

Progressive groups organized counterprogramming, including the Freedom From Religion Foundation and Faithful America. The Interfaith Alliance projected protest messages including "Democracy not theocracy" and "The separation of church and state is good for both" onto the National Gallery of Art.