As the United States of America celebrates 250 years and people across the nation navigate division and federal threats to diversity and civil rights, faith leaders in the DMV area are using the time to work toward unity, healing and equity for all.
For many religious leaders, the semiquincentennial is not just a moment for celebration, but reflection, growth and offering calls to action in order to achieve a more just and peaceful society.
Washington Informer (WI): What do you believe is God’s message for the U.S. as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary?
The Rev. Melanie Mullen, Episopal Diocese of Washington
“God’s message for America at 250 is not new. It has been spoken clearly, consistently, and at great cost for four hundred years by the very people this nation tried hardest to silence.
Two generations before 1776, enslaved Africans organized churches, sought baptism, and taught their children to read in Sunday schools that colonial authorities blamed for slave rebellions. The moral architecture we celebrate as the American ideal wasn’t built by the founders alone. It was built by the excluded, the exiled, the unfree who refused to stop believing a better America was possible.
At 250, God is calling America to reckon with that full story. Governments come and go. But people of faith, multigenerational, uncompromising, and prayer-fueled, do not take their hands off the plow. What is best about America has always been called forward by those who loved her enough to tell the truth.” Not the sanitized version but the one that includes the fusion movements after the Civil War, the Poor People’s Campaign, and the movement organizers still working today in cities where children are hungry, families are separated, and fear is used as a governing strategy. Here in Washington, D.C., we are now officially a quarter-hungry city. That is not an abstraction. That is a moral failure.
Political parties come and go. Elected leaders rise and fall. But people of faith, uncompromising, multigenerational, and unmoved by the tired rhetoric of the deserving and undeserving, keep their hands on the plow. We have been here before. We know how to hold holy hope through hard times. We have learned it from the Black church, from fusion movements, from women who built institutions from nothing, from organizers who prayed as they planned.
What is best about America has always been called forward by those who loved her enough to tell the truth. That is still God’s message. And it is still our work.”
The Rev. Henry P. Davis, pastor of First Baptist Church of Highland Park in Landover, Maryland
“As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, I believe God’s message is both one of gratitude and invitation. We should give thanks for the extraordinary blessings of liberty, opportunity, innovation, and the resilience that have shaped our nation’s history.
“At the same time, anniversaries are more than occasions for celebration—they are opportunities for reflection. Throughout scripture, God repeatedly called his people to remember his faithfulness, examine their hearts, and renew their commitment to justice, mercy, humility, and love. I believe that same call speaks to us today. Our greatest strength has never been found merely in our economy, military, or political institutions, but in the character of our people and our willingness to pursue what is right.
“America’s next chapter will not ultimately be written by our divisions, but by our ability to rediscover the values that lift communities, strengthen families, honor the dignity of every person, and inspire sacrificial service. As a Christian pastor, I believe lasting hope is found in Jesus Christ. My prayer is that this milestone will encourage our nation not only to celebrate where we have been, but to seek God’s wisdom for where we are going.
“After 250 years, perhaps the greatest question is not simply, ‘What kind of nation have we become?’ but ‘What kind of people are we becoming?’
“At America’s 250th anniversary, my prayer is that we become not only a stronger nation, but a better people. And as for my own calling, it is simply this: to spend the years God gives me helping as many people as possible discover the life-changing hope that is found in Jesus Christ.”
Imam Talib Shareef, president of the Masjid Muhammad also known as “The Nation’s Mosque” in Northwest D.C.
“The American story is one of promise continually calling us beyond our shortcomings.
I believe G-d is reminding America that greatness is not measured merely by military strength, economic prosperity, or technological advancement. Greatness is measured by our commitment to justice, compassion, truth, and the sacred dignity of every human being.
“The Qur’an teaches that G-d made us into nations and tribes so that we might know one another, not despise one another.
“Our diversity is not a problem to solve; it is a divine trust to honor.
“At this milestone, America is being called to move from independence to interdependence, from polarization to principled dialogue, from simply protecting liberty to practicing responsibility. Freedom without moral responsibility ultimately becomes another form of bondage.
“As we commemorate 250 years, I pray we remember that our highest calling is not simply to celebrate our history but to become a more perfect reflection of the ideals we profess. G-d is always calling humanity to higher ground, to repair what is broken, to reconcile where there is division, and to leave the next generation a nation more just than the one we inherited.
“Our future will not be secured merely by political victories, but by moral victories.”
The Rev. Joseph Daniels, pastor of Emory Fellowship, in Northwest D.C.
“I believe God’s message for America on its 250th anniversary is to really confront the truth of America. This is a wonderful country. This was a country that was built on many good principles, but it was built on many bad principles and quite frankly, the country was built on land theft, on the enslavement of African people, and on the eradication of Native Americans.
“Until we deal with those truths about ourselves that still haunt us as a country— because they form the foundation for racism, and for discrimination and abuse against certain groups of people— …. America cannot fully heal. And America is in a place right now where America needs to heal.
“I often quote this reality out of 2nd Chronicles 7. ‘If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray. And seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,’ then God says, ‘I will hear from heaven and I will come down, forgive and heal our land.’ And so, we need healing.”
