The Washington Post reports:

The Trump administration is hosting an all-day prayer festival on the National Mall on Sunday that organizers say will reflect the country’s Christian origins and, they hope, spark “a movement of renewal” in America.

“Rededicate 250: National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving” is partly funded by millions in public dollars earmarked for the nation’s 250th birthday celebration, organizers said. It will feature mostly evangelical Protestant leaders and members of the Trump administration, many of whom have embraced the message that America’s founders wanted the country to be explicitly Christian.

In a webinar last month, the Rev. Paula White-Cain, a senior faith adviser to the White House, said the event “is about the history and the foundations of our nation, which was built on Christian values, on the Bible … This is really truly rededicating the country to God.”

While U.S. presidents through history have typically marked major commemorations with generic prayers of thanks to God, scholars of American religious history say the national jubilee is unprecedented in the modern era.

They say that’s because of its scope — nine hours and dozens of Christian speakers, including top U.S. officials such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) — and its focus on American identity as aligned with a specific slice of conservative Protestantism. [Continue reading…]