Six thousand activists have signed a petition condemning President Trump. The petition was written by the Christian organization Faithful America denounces what they say is President-elect Donald Trump’s reported “pay-to-pray” plan to take place ahead of the inauguration. While Trump has strong support among evangelical and conservative Christians, progressive Christians have pushed back against his policies.
According to reporters, about 8 in 10 white evangelicals supported him in 2020 and 2024. However faithful America, a group of Christians advocating for social justice who have vocally spoken out against Trump called the reported prayer plan “a stunning example of the far right’s corruption of the Christian faith. And we refuse to be silent about it.”
A donation reward for people who gave or raised between $100,000 and $2 million provides access to a “One America, One Light Sunday Service,” with Donald and Melania Trump. The event will be “an interfaith service featuring U.S. military bands.” The petition has achieved 5,984 signatures toward its goal of 10,000. The progressive group laid out their complaint in the document.
It Reads: “We can’t stop Trump from turning worship into a commodity to line his own pockets. And we know his false prophets like Franklin Graham and Lance Wallnau won’t say a word about Trump’s unholy grift (spoiler alert: because they’re complicit in it).” Their rant continues to outline a laundry list of complaints with the President-elect.
They said: “As Christians, we reject the abhorrent pay-to-pray scheme that Donald Trump is reportedly planning during his inauguration celebration—charging prominent political donors $100,000 to $200,000 a ticket to worship with him.” They added, “Jesus clearly condemned the unholy merging of commerce and worship when he flipped over tables at the Temple and drove out the money lenders.”
“This isn’t a worship service intended to glorify God—it’s a service to glorify Trump and the power he represents to his wealthiest allies,” the progressive activist group claimed, We denounce this disgusting act of idolatry and the false prophets and religious-right leaders who are supporting or enabling it.” In a somewhat redundant statement to the press, Karli Wallace Thompson, digital campaigns director of Faithful America added additional context.
“President-elect Trump’s pay-to-pray scheme is an outrageous mockery of Christian faith and values. Jesus drove the money changers from the Temple, condemning the blending of commerce and worship, and yet Trump is reportedly charging up to $200,000 for political donors to pray with him. ” She said “This is not worship; it’s idolatry. Christians must stand united in rejecting this gross exploitation of our faith for personal and political gain.”
“But we CAN speak out against this gross degradation of our faith — and make sure our fellow Christians hear” they continue. A separate church service, not related to the ‘pay-for-pray’ drama will take place on Monday at St. John’s Church The church is located across from the White House and will host the service. St. John’s Reverend Rob Fisher confirmed to reporters that the services are a tradition dating back to 1933.
He said in an email that the service provides the incoming president, “a time of calm and quiet reflection before God, ahead of the large and very public events that will occupy the rest of the inauguration day.” In a post to Truth Social, Trump said ” I have ordered the Inauguration Address, in addition to prayers and other speeches, to be delivered in the United States Capitol Rotunda, as was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985, also because of very cold weather.”