EXCLUSIVE: At President Donald Trumps “Rededicate 250” prayer event on the National Mall this weekend, Bishop Robert Barron will address the “marginalization of God” and religion in society, which he said he considers a “true threat to democracy.”
Rededicate 250 is a major prayer event set for Sunday as a way of “rededicating” the nation as “One Nation Under God” ahead of Americas 250th anniversary. The event, which is being organized by the Trump-aligned “Freedom 250” nonprofit, is expected to include the president, Cabinet members and major faith leaders.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Barron, perhaps Americas most well-known and beloved Catholic bishop, revealed that his address at the event will emphasize his belief that “if you marginalize and privatize religion, democracy is in danger.”
“God is essential to the very foundations of American democracy,” he asserted. “There’s a lot of talk today about the threats to democracy, that is a true threat to democracy, the marginalization of God.”
Barron explained that many of the societal ills seen today are due to this cultural separation from God.
“Take God out of the equation, what are you left with? Radical self-choice. Welcome to wokeism. Welcome to the culture of self-invention. I make myself up, values is up to me, my gender, it’s up to the whole structure of my life, it’s my choice,” he said. “Thats deadly to our democracy.”
“Religion belongs to the very fabric of our democracy, that’s the theme of my talk,” he said.
Barron said he will begin his speech by invoking Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg Address.
“We know from the early written versions [that] Lincoln didn’t have the phrase under God when he said that this nation might have a new birth of freedom. But when he delivered the speech, he said this nation Under God might have a new birth of freedom. So, what prompted Lincoln, as he was giving the Gettysburg Address, to add that phrase?” he said. “You could say, Oh, it’s just a little pious declaration. No, no, no, I think that’s born of a very, very deep and correct intuition, America is a nation that’s conditioned by these great values, moral values, spiritual values that come finally from God.”
Barron argued that one of Americas most foundational ideas â that all men are created equal â is a novel concept made possible only by Christianity.
“We’re not equal in any way. Look at the classical political philosophers; they would never affirm the equality of all people. We’re not equal in intelligence or moral virtue or beauty or courage or anything. We’re radically unequal. So where does this come from?” he asked. “Why would you go from we’re not equal at all to its self-evident that we’re equal? And the answer is in that little word, created, that all men are created equal. So, despite all our differences, we are all equally children of God and then endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.”
This second concept of all possessing inalienable rights, Barron argued, is a uniquely imbued in Americas values.
“No one in the classical world believed that. Aristotle didn’t, Plato didn’t. Cicero didn’t, none of them,” he explained. “Look in societies more recent that don’t believe in God. Go to Soviet Russia, go to communist China, everyone has rights? No way.”
“Where do they come from?” he said. “Well, Jefferson gives away the game. They’re endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. Take the creator out of the equation, rights will go out in a minute. So, Lincoln’s intuition to say that this nation under God would have a new birth of freedom, God is essential to the very foundations of American democracy. If you marginalize and privatize religion, democracy is in danger.”
Barron said he will also address the nature of freedom itself.
“Its a very modern sense of fr
