After Clergy Arrested for Praying, Moral Monday Returns to U.S. Supreme Court to Confront Deadly Federal Budget

Faith leaders and impacted people to hold prayerful protest calling out a budget that will kill Medicaid, starve children, and abandon the poor

WASHINGTON DC, DC, UNITED STATES, May 5, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- On Monday, May 5, 2025, at 11:00 AM ET, a diverse coalition of national faith leaders and directly impacted people will gather at the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court for Moral Monday: A Season of Prayer and Action, to protest what they call a “deadly federal budget” that slashes healthcare, food, and housing support for millions.

The event comes one week after the arrest of three clergy, including Bishop William J. Barber II, in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda while offering prayer in protest of the budget. Organizers call the arrests “a sacred act of truth-telling and moral resistance.”

“We bowed our heads in prayer where too many lawmakers bow to lobbyists,” the arrested clergy said in a joint statement. “We will not be silent while children go hungry, the sick are denied care, and the poor are sacrificed on the altar of an unjust budget.”

The May 5 protest will be led by Rev. Dr. Hanna Broome, National Religious Director of Repairers of the Breach; Rev. Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson, of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); Shane Claiborne, Red Letter Christians; and Ariel Gold, Fellowship of Reconciliation. Clergy in full vestments will be joined by workers, low-wage families, and people harmed by the ongoing crises of poverty, medical debt, and housing insecurity.

A Deadly Budget: Policy Violence Against the People

Organizers say the proposed federal budget will:
• Strip Medicaid from 36 million Americans, causing an estimated 56,000 preventable deaths
• Remove food assistance from 15 million children
• Slash federal housing support, harming families, veterans, and seniors
• Add $86 billion to the Pentagon budget, much of it targeted at immigration enforcement and deportation infrastructure

“Starving a child is violence. Denying a worker a living wage is violence. Ignoring the sick is violence,” said Bishop Barber. “Even the lack of willpower to help humanity is a sick and sinister form of violence — especially when you have the power to make a difference.”

A Moral Crisis Demands a Moral Response

Nearly 800 people die each day from poverty in the United States. Faith leaders say this budget would escalate that number — particularly among Black, Brown, Indigenous, rural, disabled, and elderly communities — while shielding billionaires and large corporations from accountability.
Organizers will present a moral and constitutional critique, calling on Congress to uphold the preamble of the Constitution: to establish justice, promote the general welfare, and secure equal protection for all.

“You cannot pray P-R-A-Y at the opening of Congress and then pass a budget that preys P-R-E-Y on the poor,” said Bishop Barber. “To do so is not only heresy — it is pastoral malpractice.”

EVENT DETAILS
WHAT:
Moral Monday at the U.S. Supreme Court – Prayerful protest and press rally against a deadly federal budget
WHEN:
Monday, May 5, 2025 at 11:00 AM ET
(Gathering begins at 9:00 AM at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 301 A Street SE)
WHERE:
Steps of the U.S. Supreme Court
1 First St NE, Washington, D.C. 20543
LIVESTREAM:
www.breachrepairers.org
REGISTER:
https://bit.ly/MoralMondaysAtTheCapitol
WHO:
• Rev. Dr. Hanna Broome, Repairers of the Breach
• Rev. Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
• Shane Claiborne, Red Letter Christians
• Ariel Gold, Fellowship of Reconciliation
• National clergy, grassroots organizers, and directly impacted families
VISUALS:
Clergy in vestments; live prayer protest; testimonies from working-class and poor families; delivery of constitutional and moral budget critique
MEDIA CONTACT:
Yolanda Barksdale | ybarksdale@breachrepairers.org
Damara Catlett | damara@bgadvocacy.com | 215-828-9628

Yolanda Barksdale
Repairers of the Breach
ybarksdale@breachrepairers.org
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