AILSA CHANG, HOST:
A daylong prayer event called Rededicate 250 is set to take place on the National Mall this Sunday. It's being organized by the Trump administration in partnership with private, mostly Christian organizations. To talk more about this event is NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. Hi, Jason.
JASON DEROSE, BYLINE: Hello.
CHANG: OK, so what exactly is Rededicate 250?
DEROSE: Well, it's billed as a rededication of the country as one nation under God and a national jubilee of prayer, praise and thanksgiving.
CHANG: OK.
DEROSE: Now, it's really part of an initiative called America Prays and Freedom 250, to mark the 250th birthday of the U.S., put together in partnership with, as you said, federal departments and agencies, religious leaders, businesses such as ExxonMobil and Palantir and organizations like Moms for Liberty and the Museum of the Bible. The idea is to spark a kind of religious revival in the U.S. Here's Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who is a prominent evangelical Christian within the Trump administration, announcing the event.
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PETE HEGSETH: Our founders knew two simple truths. Our rights don't come from government. They come from God. And a nation is only as strong as its faith.
DEROSE: This prayer rally is taking place on May 17, a day that George Washington called for as a day of prayer back in 1776.
CHANG: Oh, wow. I didn't know that. OK, so who's on the schedule to speak?
DEROSE: Well, Secretary Hegseth is on the list - also President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, House Speaker Mike Johnson - among religious leaders, the head of the White House faith office Paula White-Cain, evangelical minister Franklin Graham and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the retired Catholic archbishop of New York.
Many of these folks, Ailsa, have also spoken at the Republican National Conventions and GOP rallies during the Trump era. And all but one of the people on Sunday's schedule are conservative Christians. You know, white evangelicals are a major political base for Donald Trump.
CHANG: OK, so a lot of political and religious leaders expected, but all with the backing of the federal government. How much public support is there for this kind of mixing of religion and politics?
DEROSE: You know, just this week, Pew Research came out with a report about religion's influence in American government. A rising portion of Americans say religion is gaining influence in the U.S., but there's really a sharp political divide over what to make of that influence. Chip Rotolo is the lead author of the Pew study.
CHIP ROTOLO: Seventy-five percent of Republicans say, you know, they convey a positive view of religion's role in public life by saying that religion's gaining influence and that's good, or it's losing influence and that's bad. That's about double the share of Democrats who say the same thing.
DEROSE: And among those who say it's a bad thing are some religious leaders, including critics of the Rededicate 250 event on Sunday.
CHANG: Well, what's the argument of those religious leaders who oppose this event?
DEROSE: Well, they say it's bad for both religion and government. Adam Russell Taylor is a Baptist minister and head of the progressive Christian organization Sojourners. He says Sunday's event is really about showcasing one narrow sliver of Christians who support Donald Trump.
ADAM RUSSELL TAYLOR: What we are seeing on the Mall - with a predomintantly group of white, far-right evangelical leaders that will be praying - is a very Christian nationalist, ideological version that is, in essence, being privileged and is being platformed.
DEROSE: Christian nationalism that he refers to there is this ideology that merges Christian identity and national identity, something that Taylor and many, many others say betrays the First Amendment's commitment to religious freedom.
CHANG: That is NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. Thank you so much, Jason.
DEROSE: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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