Last week, hundreds of Christians gathered on Capitol Hill for a Bible Reading Marathon. The entire Bible was read aloud for 90 consecutive hours without commentary or interpretation.

The U.S. Capitol Bible Reading Marathon was established in 1990 by Dr. John Hash and Dr. Corinthia Boone. In 1994, Pastor Michael Hall and his wife, Terry, took over as organizers of the event. The Halls held to the vision of the Bible Reading Marathon for 26 years before handing it over to Keith Davidson, the founder of  Seedline International, in 2019.

Along with Capitol Hill, Seedline International organizes Bible Reading Marathons outside 7 other state capitols in Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Their vision is one of Christian Nationalism: “Because the Bible is at the heart of America’s founding principles, it should be voiced at the heart of our Federal and State Governments, exhorting our nation to return to God’s precepts.”

Davidson claims that the event is free of politics or interpretation of the text, though detractors, including many Christians, claim it is impossible to hold an apolitical event whose aim is to further a religious legislative agenda.

“Our goal is to bring attention back to our legislators, of course, and to get the attention back on the word of God,” Davidson told The Christian Post. His goal is for those legislators “to remember that’s where our nation’s foundation is at…”

According to Davidson, over 75 people stopped to listen on Monday. Some lingered longer to ask questions of the organizers, while others read from the array of Bibles on display, many of which were in different languages.

On Tuesday, a concurrent Bible reading event was held in the House of Representatives Chaplain’s office from midday to four. According to Davidson, this is the second year that the event has been welcomed inside the U.S. Capitol Building.

Abe Silos, a Christian speaker who works with Gideons International, also took part in reading the Bible aloud on Capitol Hill. Silos has expressed shock and concern over the young people he’s met who’ve never read the New Testament.

“There are many voices out there,” Silos said. “Well, God speaks to us every day, mostly through His Word. So that’s why it’s so important to elevate God’s Word…we need to continue to do that as a nation, as Christians, as individuals, no matter what happens.”

Those participating in the Capitol Bible Reading Marathons believe they are honoring God and are proud to be part of these events, but many believers oppose Christian nationalism.

Detractors of Christian Nationalism believe the separation of Church and State is fundamental to the identity of the United States and oppose any effort to promote Christianity through legislation. They see the legislation as a form of force and believe that Jesus opposed any use of force to spread or defend the faith.

In addition, those who oppose Christian Nationalism do so out of concern for the 77 percent of U.S. citizens who are not Evangelical—the only denominational group that broadly supports Christian Nationalism. Episcopalians, mainline Protestants, and Catholics, along with atheists, agnostics, and people of other religions, are largely opposed to the legislation of faith.

The increasingly noisy and active group of detractors of Christian Nationalism are not on board with the belief that legislators should be influenced to shape the U.S.’s legal landscape around Christian belief and do not support the Capitol Bible Reading Marathon’s aims.

Some are alarmed by Dr. William Barber’s arrest this Monday while he and a small group of other faith leaders prayed in the Capitol Building Rotunda. The justification for the arrest is not the issue, given that the prayers were a form of protest against the current administration’s budget, and protests are prohibited in congressional buildings, but the manner of the arrest was considered noteworthy.

Dozens of officers expelled everyone from the Rotunda, including press representatives, and shut the doors so that nobody could see what unfolded. The press and others were told to leave the floor entirely, though cellphone footage of the event was successfully captured.

Those who feel Dr Barber was treated in a way that amounted to an attack on religious liberty have observed that while some forms of Christian expression, such as the Bible Reading Marathon, are welcome in Capitol Hill, other Christian voices are silenced.