Trump Announces May 17 Event To Rededicate U.S. As ‘One Nation, Under God’

By Tyler Arnold

President Donald Trump addressed the 74th annual National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, Feb. 5, touting his record on religious issues and announcing that the United States will rededicate the nation to God.

“This prayer breakfast comes at a special time for our country as we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence,” Trump said five months ahead of the national celebration of the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

“When our founders proclaimed the immortal truths that echoed around the world and down all the way through time, they declared that all of us are made free and equal by the hand of our Creator,” the president said.

In honor of the anniversary, Trump announced at the breakfast that he will hold an event on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on May 17 “to rededicate America as one nation under God.”

“We’re inviting Americans from all across the country to come together on our National Mall to pray, to give thanks,” he said.

Earlier this year, Trump launched the “America Prays” initiative ahead of the anniversary, asking Americans to pray for the country and its citizens. The White House published a 22-page document at the time to highlight the Christian roots of the country, which contained historical prayers, sermons, and presidential proclamations.

The president also announced new guidance from the U.S. Department of Education, which seeks to protect religious speech and prayer in public schools. He said he expects the guidance to face lawsuits but told the crowd: “We’ll win it.”

He said the country is seeing a resurgence in the Christian faith and highlighted a rise in Bible sales in 2025 and a higher frequency of young people attending religious services. When asked about church attendance rates, a spokesperson for the White House cited one study from the Barna Group as an example, which showed millennial and Generation Z Christians attending religious services at higher rates.

Two of Trump’s guests — Emma Foltz and London Smith — were invited to the breakfast to highlight examples of what the president called “young American patriots and believers.”

Foltz and Smith, two counselors at Camp Mystic, are credited with saving 14 girls in the deadly July 2025 flood at the Christian summer camp that claimed 27 lives.

“Emma bravely helped lead 14 precious little girls to safety, and London, seeing the water rise, gathered with other girls at the top of their building and prayed,” Trump said in the speech.

“Almost 250 years after our Founding Fathers took one of the greatest leaps of faith in human history, the story of Emma and London shows us that faith of the American people remains unbroken, actually became stronger than ever,” he said. “And it reminds us that prayers strengthen, prayers heal, prayer empowers, and prayer saves. Quite simply, prayer is America’s superpower."

During his speech, Trump also took credit for accomplishments that he believes have benefited Christians in the United States and abroad.

The president brought up his executive order related to the Johnson Amendment, which eased restrictions on pastors commenting on political issues. He also noted he expanded the Mexico City Policy to prevent taxpayer funds for international organizations that support abortion and “radical gender ideology.”

Trump also touted his executive actions “to slash federal funding for any public school that pushes transgender insanity” on children and “stopped the mutilation of children” with policies that restrict hospitals from offering drugs and surgeries to minors to make them appear like the opposite sex. He also said: “We got men out of women’s sports.”

“We’re still fighting it, but, you know, transgender for everybody — they want transgender for everybody,” he said. “We stopped it.”

Trump also reminded that crowd that he created the White House Faith Office and the Religious Liberty Commission.

“My administration is confronting head on the militant and really intolerant campaign that tried to drive religious believers out of public life and out of society,” Trump said.

Trump also spoke about international affairs, specifically about the December 2025 military strikes on Nigeria, which was aimed at combatting the persecution of Christians. Another one of his guests was Nigerian First Lady Remi Tinubu, who is Christian.

“We knocked the hell out of them the other day in Nigeria because they were killing Christians,” Trump said. “They were killing Christians. You can’t do that. When Christians come under attack, they know they’re going to be attacked violently and viciously by President Trump.”

Several lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, and members of Trump’s Cabinet, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, also attended the prayer breakfast.