This weekend, an event called Rededicate 250 will be taking place on Washington, D.C.’s National Mall. Organizers of the event, a group called Freedom 250, describes it as a “national jubilee of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.”
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth will headline the rally. And according to The Guardian, the lineup also includes some speakers that experts have characterized as Christian nationalists or extremists.
The organization behind the event, Freedom 250, is a private nonprofit launched by the White House in December 2025, reported The Guardian, as a partner to the 250th anniversary commission established by Congress in 2016. The organization is now under congressional investigation over use of federal funds.
In February 2026, a multifaith commission, Interfaith Alliance, also sued the Trump administration, arguing its “Religious Liberty Commission” skews overwhelmingly Christian and breaches the Federal Advisory Committee Act’s requirement of “balanced membership.”
“Religious freedom for some is religious freedom for none,” Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president and CEO of Interfaith Alliance, said in a statement.
“The government has no right to pick and choose which religious beliefs to promote, and which to marginalize. The Trump administration has failed to uphold our country’s proud religious freedom tradition, and we will hold them accountable.”
And Interfaith Alliance is protesting the May 17 event on the National Mall, too.
Ahead of the event, the group has partnered with Robin Bell of Bell Visuals, to project messages that support religious freedom on the exterior of D.C.’s National Gallery of Art.
“We reject Christian nationalism! Democracy, not theocracy!” Interfaith Alliance proclaimed on social media.
The displays say things like, “Religious freedom for all. Christian nationalism threatens everyone’s religious freedom, “Rededicate America to everyone’s religious freedom,” and “The separation of church and state is good for both.”
Interfaith Alliance brands itself as “the pro-democracy faith movement,” and features faith leaders of many different traditions, including Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
The group was especially vocal during the Immigration and Customs Enforcement surge in Minnesota earlier this year, rallying faith leaders from across the country to help community members and urge ICE agents to retreat.
They also released an ad urging viewers to “choose love, not ICE” during the holidays in late 2025, broadcasting it on Fox News channels in Mar-a-Lago.
This new display along the National Mall seems to be the group’s latest contribution.
“The projections … will shine bright on the National Mall ahead of Trump’s ‘Rededicate 250’ event, in which a roster of almost exclusively conservative Christians will mark America’s 250th anniversary with a ‘rededication of our country as One Nation to God,’” Interfaith Alliance wrote on social media.
“America was not founded as a Christian nation. And we refuse to let anyone rewrite that history.”
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Header image courtesy of Interfaith Alliance
