Trump’s Prayer Event Explodes Into Anti-Islam, Anti-Pope Firestorm

WASHINGTON — What was billed by the White House as a sweeping national celebration of faith and unity is rapidly becoming something far more divisive.

President Donald Trump’s “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving,” scheduled for Sunday at the National Mall, has ignited fierce criticism over its lineup of prominent evangelical allies with histories of inflammatory remarks about Islam and Pope Leo XIV.

The nine-hour event, organized as part of the lead-up to America’s 250th anniversary celebrations, was promoted as a nonpartisan gathering devoted to prayer and patriotism. But critics say the program reveals a deeper political and ideological agenda closely aligned with Christian nationalism.

At the center of the controversy is conservative author and commentator Eric Metaxas, a longtime Trump ally who has repeatedly described Islam as “evil” and argued publicly that it is “not a religion.” Metaxas has also lashed out at Pope Leo XIV, dismissing the pontiff’s statements as “pious blather” and “Marxist garbage.”

Franklin Graham, another featured speaker and one of the most influential evangelical figures in conservative America, has previously characterized Islam as a “seedbed for terrorism.” He has also accused the Pope of promoting “socialist Marxists pablum” within the Catholic Church.

Their inclusion has transformed what was intended as a patriotic religious gathering into a flashpoint in America’s widening cultural and political divide.

Several senior Trump administration officials are expected to attend, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and House Speaker Mike Johnson, underscoring the event’s deep ties to the administration’s conservative religious base.

Religious diversity at the gathering appears limited. The speaker roster is dominated by white evangelical leaders, with little representation from mainline Protestant churches or Black Protestant communities that have historically played a central role in American public faith traditions.

Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, sharply criticized the event, calling it less a national prayer gathering than a “Jubilee of Christian Nationalism.”

The tensions surrounding the event have intensified amid an increasingly public clash between Mr. Trump and Pope Leo XIV, the first American-born pope in history.

In recent remarks addressing the escalating crisis involving Iran and broader Middle East instability, Pope Leo warned against what he described as a “delusion of omnipotence” driving global conflict. Mr. Trump responded by portraying the Pope as “weak” and out of touch with geopolitical realities.

To supporters, Sunday’s gathering represents a revival of American faith, patriotism and traditional values. To critics, it reflects a dangerous fusion of religion, nationalism and state power — financed in part with taxpayer money.

As Washington prepares for the spectacle on the National Mall, one question now looms over the event: Is this a national prayer for unity, or a political stage dressed in the language of faith?

(Sources: HuffPost, Yahoo News, Religion News Service, The Guardian, Fox News)