(LifeSiteNews) — Thousands descended on the National Mall in the heart of Washington, D.C., for Sunday’s “Rededicate 250” in which President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance delivered messages rooted in Scripture and Christian faith.
In a prerecorded message, Trump read 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 using the King James version, in which God promised the people of Israel that if they repent, humble themselves, and pray, He would heal their land.
Fifty years ago, this same verse formed the heart of the prayers of Christians during the nation’s bicentennial in 1776, as the country was still reeling from the malaise produced by the Vietnam War, Watergate, racial strife, protest movements, and the national legalization of abortion via Roe v. Wade.
With the recent pandemic lockdowns and mandates, “endless wars,” the rise of LGBT ideologies and the woke identity splintering of our country, our nation is mired in a similar malaise today.
The Washington Post lamented that until Trump’s current term in office, “it had been virtually unheard of in modern times for U.S. government officials to publicly tie the nation to a specific set of religious beliefs. Trump’s cabinet members have changed that norm.”
President Trump recited a passage from 2 Chronicles 7 during Sunday’s “Rededicate 250” celebration on the National Mall, including the well-known verse urging people to “humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways.”
The verse is often cited by… pic.twitter.com/9UPr7vBao0
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 17, 2026
In a beautiful exposition, Vice President JD Vance explained that the nation’s founding and thriving are rooted in a shared Christian faith:
George Washington declared in 1789 that “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.”
These were the opening lines of America’s first-ever Thanksgiving Proclamation. Whatever milestone it represented in the brief life of our young republic, the duty Washington described — to honor, obey, and give thanks to our creator — was woven into America’s character long before the founding.
A keen awareness of that duty has stretched all the way back from William Bradford’s own Pilgrim Proclamation in 1623, to the opening prayer of our first Continental Congress, to Lincoln’s call for national thanksgiving in the midst of the Civil War, to this very gathering today.
We have always been and still are a nation of prayer. And thank God for that.
In times of suffering and in times of triumph, millions of Americans continue to turn to prayer and their faith in God.
John Adams famously said that our constitution was “made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
It was obvious to the founders that our faith was the ground upon which America stands. It was our very foundation as a people. And if this foundation were to crumble, so too would the very values that make us Americans.
From our religious inheritance comes many of the virtues and institutions we most cherish as a people: Our system of justice, our generosity to neighbors, our respect for conscience, and the moral discipline necessary for liberty itself.
As my dear friend, the late great Charlie Kirk put it, all law reflects a morality. Neither law nor morality appears in a vacuum, but ultimately come from religion. And the morality and the religion that formed the American consciousness were decidedly Christian, founded upon the principles and divinity of Jesus Christ.
In 1783, Washington also proclaimed that imitation of divine charity is necessary for the mutual affection of our citizenry and the happiness of our nation.
If we do not see that God loves us, we have little reason and little inspiration to love one another.
This love which forms our morality is the foundation of a peaceful and healthful society. That’s why it’s so encouraging to see a renewed sense of faith emerging among America’s young people, defying predictions: The experts said that religion and faith were dying. Today, a wave of young Americans is returning to the pews. And we know that they’re looking for meaning, for authority, for direction, and of course, for closeness with God.
That should give all of us hope for our future together as Americans. It certainly gives me hope, as your vice president.
Prayer is not merely something we do in times of crisis. It is a continual disposition of love toward God, and through that love toward one another, our fellow citizens.
As we celebrate 250 years, I thank you all for joining on such a happy and wonderful occasion. And just as I pray for all of you, I ask for your prayers for me, for the president, and for the entire cabinet. I always ask people to pray for wisdom and for courage for their leadership. Pray for wisdom that we know the path God wants us to walk. Pray for courage that we have the ability to walk that path.
You’ll be in my prayers as, I hope, I’ll be in yours. May God bless you all.
WATCH: Vice President JD Vance’s Rededicate 250 message:
“I always ask people to pray for wisdom and for courage for their leadership. Pray for wisdom that we know the path God wants us to walk. Pray for courage that we have the ability to walk that path.” pic.twitter.com/5hKNESi7hV
— Vice President JD Vance (@VP) May 17, 2026
Other members of the White House Cabinet who spoke at the event included Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard, Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.