What Does the National Mall Prayer Event Tell Us About Church-State Separation?
Plus, a deep dive into "anti-Christian bias" claims, pronatalism, and other media appearances
This month, “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving,” a White House-backed prayer gathering, took place on the National Mall. PRRI President and Founder Robert P. Jones, Ph.D., attended the event and joined Pamela Brown on CNN’s Situation Room to discuss his experience, saying, “It wasn’t just a sort of ‘God bless America’ kind of event. It was really a ‘reclaim the country for this one sector of Christianity’ kind of event.” Jones also spoke to The Washington Post, Vox, MS Now, and CNN about the gathering.
Jones pointed out to Leila Fadel on NPR’s Morning Edition that the Rededicate 250 event featured primarily white evangelical Protestant speakers and participants — a group that, according to the PRRI Census of American Religion, makes up just 13% of the American population and 20% of all Christians.
Taking a Deeper Dive:
Following the release of a new government report accusing the Biden administration of “anti-Christian bias,” Robert P. Jones, Ph.D., wrote that the report “is part of a broader program to ensconce the idea of ‘anti-Christian bias’ in legal and public parlance.” Jones was also quoted in Religion News Service, saying, “The idea that there’s a broad anti-Christian bias and that Trump is on the side of all Christians really just doesn’t hold up when you look at the data,” adding that a majority of Christians (54%) have unfavorable views of the president.
More to Know:
A recent Substack Q&A with PRRI Affiliated Scholar Samuel Perry, Ph.D., explores pronatalist views, “insecure masculinity,” and Christian nationalism. As Perry explains,
“Every article that mentions us having more kids as a nation seems to imply or explicitly requires that women walk back their gains in the workforce, that they don’t go to school, they don’t go to college, that they don’t pursue careers, that they voluntarily or perhaps to some degree, involuntarily, stay home.”
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PRRI In the News:
PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman, Ph.D., spoke to Grace Segers at The New Republic about data from the new PRRI Census of American Religion, and whether political activism could draw younger Americans to progressive Christian churches, saying, “I don’t think it’s going to be happening en masse because of the larger secularization trends that have emerged with young people.”
Robert P. Jones, Ph.D., joined Joy-Ann Reid for an in-depth conversation about his next book, Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy. Jones also discussed why it’s important for journalists and political analysts to understand the influence of religion on U.S. politics with Michael Podhorzer.
At Religion News Service, PRRI Senior Democracy Fellow, Jemar Tisby, PhD, wrote that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Louisiana vs. Callais decision, which dismantled a key part of the Voting Rights Act, “requires not colorblindness but color consciousness.” Additionally, Katherine Stewart spoke with Iowa Public Radio about Christian nationalism and the decreasing separation between church and state. On NPR, Obery M. Hendricks Jr., Ph.D., expressed concern about how the Trump administration invokes the Bible to support its political agenda, “We’re talking about ideological Christianity… that refracts everything in the Bible through the prism of the interest of the one who’s interpreting it.”
At The Conversation, PRRI Public Fellow Michal Raucher, Ph.D., describes why women taking the rabbinical exam administered by the Chief Rabbinate in Israel is a historic shift for Orthodox Judaism. In new Spotlight Analyses, Darrius Hills, Ph.D., explores the relationship between religious affiliation and views on political violence, and Charles McCrary, Ph.D., writes about Americans’ favorability of the term “Christian nationalism” and how Americans’ views have evolved since 2022.
Also This Month:
Politifact: Are Democrats growing more accepting of political violence?
RNS: Evangelical groups warn Trump’s deportations could leave 1.3M ‘torn apart’ from families
Stateline: Lawsuits challenging embryo disposal could hinder IVF
Newsweek: Supreme Court’s John Roberts Faces Long-Shot Impeachment Challenge
Looking Ahead:
Data & Democracy: PRRI Day of Giving 2026
Mark your calendars: On June 10, PRRI is hosting a Day of Giving — a full day of conversation, community, and the trusted data helping Americans make sense of this moment. Join us throughout the day for:
Exclusive videos and insights from PRRI scholars, partners, and special guests
Behind-the-scenes conversations about the research shaping today’s biggest stories
A live virtual event where we’ll share new PRRI data
Stay tuned for more information on what to expect and how to get involved. We can’t wait to see you there!