President Donald Trump stood shoulder-to-shoulder with evangelical leaders on Saturday as he took the stage at the National Mall in Washington, DC, for the ‘One Nation under God’ prayer rally. The event, billed as a nonpartisan call for national unity through faith, drew an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people, according to local organizers. Attendees waved American flags, held signs with Bible verses, and cheered as Trump praised the role of religion in American life. ‘We must never forget that our nation was founded on the principles of faith, freedom, and family,’ Trump told the crowd. Flanked by pastors and religious figures, he framed the rally as a response to what he called growing secularism and moral decline in the country. ‘We are here to reclaim our heritage and restore the soul of America,’ he said, echoing a common theme from his 2024 campaign trail.## The event’s organizers, led by prominent evangelical pastor Franklin Graham, positioned the rally as a spiritual counterpoint to recent social and political divisions in the U.S. Graham, who has been a vocal Trump ally, told the crowd that the nation’s problems—from crime to declining birth rates—could be solved by returning to traditional Christian values. ‘When we put God first, everything else falls into place,’ Graham said, drawing applause. The rally featured performances by Christian musicians and speeches from Republican lawmakers, including Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Unlike typical political rallies, the event included moments of prayer and scripture readings, with pastors leading the crowd in communal prayers for healing and unity.## Critics, however, saw the event as thinly veiled political theater. Progressive groups and secular organizations accused Trump of exploiting religion to energize his base ahead of the 2024 election. ‘This isn’t about prayer—it’s about power,’ said Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a watchdog group. The organization pointed out that Trump’s appearance at the rally came just days after he signed an executive order directing federal agencies to prioritize religious liberty protections for faith-based organizations.## The rally also highlighted the deepening ties between Trump and the evangelical voting bloc, a key demographic that helped propel him to victory in 2016 and 2020. Polls show that about 80% of white evangelicals voted for Trump in 2020, and his outreach to this group has only intensified in recent months. Trump’s speech on Saturday leaned heavily into familiar themes: attacking ‘woke’ culture, defending religious freedoms, and promising to protect the ‘Judeo-Christian values’ that he says define America.## For his part, Trump framed the event as a spiritual revival rather than a campaign stop. ‘This is not about me,’ he told the crowd. ‘This is about our country, our families, and our future.’ Yet the timing—just months before the election—raised questions about whether the rally was more about faith or politics. Organizers denied any partisan motives, but the presence of Trump, Cruz, and other Republican figures made it hard to ignore the political undertones.## What happens next? Graham and other organizers said they plan to follow up with regional prayer events in battleground states like Pennsylvania and Michigan. Trump’s campaign has already signaled it will lean into faith-based messaging in the coming months, with rallies and ads targeting evangelical voters. Meanwhile, progressive groups are preparing legal challenges to Trump’s latest religious liberty directives, setting the stage for another round of battles over the separation of church and state.## The broader implications of Saturday’s event stretch beyond politics. It underscores how religion remains a powerful force in shaping American identity—and how quickly faith can become a flashpoint in a divided nation.

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  • Source: France 24
  • Published: May 17, 2026 at 14:40 UTC
  • Category: World
  • Topics: #france24 · #world-news · #europe · #politics · #government · #nation

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Curated by GlobalBR News · May 17, 2026

🇧🇷 Resumo em Português

O presidente dos Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, se uniu a milhares de apoiadores em Washington, DC, durante um megaevento de oração nacional que prometeu reacender os valores cristãos no país. Em um discurso carregado de retórica religiosa e apelos à unidade, Trump defendeu a ideia de que os EUA devem ser guiados pela fé, em um momento de intensa polarização política e social nos EUA.

A participação do ex-presidente em um evento como esse não é apenas simbólica, mas tem peso político e cultural, especialmente em um ano eleitoral. Para o Brasil — país com forte tradição religiosa e crescente influência evangélica na política —, a cena levanta questões sobre o papel da fé na esfera pública e como líderes mundiais exploram crenças para mobilizar bases. Além disso, o evento reforça debates sobre secularismo, direitos civis e a crescente aliança entre política e religião, temas que também ressoam na sociedade brasileira.

Com a aproximação das eleições nos EUA, a estratégia de Trump de se apresentar como defensor dos valores cristãos pode ser um divisor de águas na campanha, enquanto observadores internacionais analisam como esse movimento influenciará a política global e a relação entre religiões e Estados.

🇪🇸 Resumen en Español

La jornada se tiñó ayer de espiritualidad y política en Washington, donde el presidente Donald Trump se erigió como figura central de una multitudinaria concentración de oración bajo el lema “One Nation under God”, un acto que ha reavivado el debate sobre la relación entre fe y poder en Estados Unidos. Miles de seguidores, entre ellos figuras conservadoras y líderes evangélicos, abarrotaron el National Mall para escuchar al mandatario, quien vinculó su mensaje con valores tradicionalistas y la defensa de lo que definió como “valores judeocristianos” de la nación.

El acto, calificado por analistas como un intento de consolidar el voto religioso que impulsó su llegada a la Casa Blanca en 2016, llega en un momento de creciente polarización en EE.UU., donde temas como el aborto, los derechos LGTBIQ+ o la libertad religiosa dominan el discurso público. Para el electorado hispanohablante —especialmente el segmento católico—, el evento plantea preguntas incómodas: ¿cómo conciliar la defensa de principios religiosos con políticas migratorias que han separado a familias en la frontera? Mientras Trump apela a una base conservadora que ve en su presidencia un “mandato divino”, la cita refuerza las tensiones entre secularización y fe, un debate que trasciende fronteras y resuena en comunidades latinas donde la religión sigue siendo un pilar identitario.