AP, WASHINGTON
Thousands of people streamed onto the National Mall for a daylong prayer rally on 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 US history, a blending of ideas that critics flagged ahead of the prayer gathering as supporting Christian nationalism.
A person worships during Rededicate 250, a mostly conservative Christian prayer gathering in honor of the US’ 250th anniversary, in Washington on Sunday.
US 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 the US 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, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land,” Trump read.
