Overview
- The daylong festival, scheduled for Sunday on the National Mall, will run from about 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will stream through partner churches and ministries.
- Senior officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and House Speaker Mike Johnson are slated to speak, with President Trump delivering recorded remarks.
- The advertised faith roster is overwhelmingly Christian and mostly evangelical, with Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Robert Barron listed and Rabbi Meir Soloveichik the lone non-Christian faith leader.
- Organizers say the event draws in part on taxpayer funds set aside for the 250th anniversary, while congressional Democrats and civil-liberties groups are pressing for details on Freedom 250’s finances and plan protests and counter-events.
- Freedom 250, a White House-backed public–private effort distinct from the bipartisan America 250 commission, faces criticism that the rally advances Christian nationalism, as new polling shows strong support for church–state separation and little backing for making Christianity the official religion.