Leading clergy will preach publicly on H and 16th Street before hundreds in person and thousands online across more than 20 livestream and social media platforms, calling for peace, justice, and protection of democracy
Washington, DC — On Monday, May 18, at 5 PM ET, national clergy leaders, impacted people, advocates, and people of moral conscience will gather outside the White House for a Moral Monday Peace and Nonviolence Rally, calling for an end to war in Iran and investment to end poverty, voter suppression, denial of healthcare, environmental degradation, and attacks on immigrants and the LGBTQ community.
This Moral Monday action follows faith-led actions in Selma, Montgomery, and across the country protesting attacks on voting rights and deepening commitments to voter mobilization ahead of the midterm elections. It also comes one day after the White House’s planned “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise, & Thanksgiving” gathering on May 17. During Monday’s public action, leading religious figures will directly challenge the distorted theology and religious nationalism promoted through the White House gathering being used to bless war, systemic racism, militarism, attacks on democracy, and policy violence against poor and vulnerable people. Clergy leaders will preach publicly in the streets before hundreds gathered in person and thousands more joining online through livestreams and broadcasts across more than 20 social media platforms.
Bishop William J. Barber, II, President & Sr. Lecture of Repairers of the Breach, will lead Monday’s actions, joined by nationally recognized bishops, clergy leaders, rabbis, pastors, imams, and faith organizers from across the country. Moral leaders and advocates will gather for public prayer, preaching, testimony, songs, and nonviolent moral witness directly in front of the White House.
This Moral Monday action outside the White House intentionally draws from the biblical prophetic tradition that exhorts religious leaders to go to the centers of power when leaders abuse power and publicly put their bodies and their reputations on the line to confront wrong-doing in person. In the modern traditions of Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Gandhi, the Mothers of the Disappeared, the sit-in movements of the 1960s and many others, this prophetic direct action is meant to appeal to the public conscience, even as the current administration misuses religion to try to justify its immoral actions.
Repairers of the Breach has been leading Moral Monday actions nationally since the start of the U.S.-led war in Iran and has been urging policymakers to stop funding unholy war and instead invest in programs that provide for the common good. As reported by the Institute for Policy Studies’ National Priorities Project, the war is costing an estimated $1 billion per day. Over the course of a year, that $365 billion could instead fund:
- 2.73 million Registered Nurses for one year
- 160.67 million people on SNAP Benefits for one year
- 104.73 million children on Medicaid for one year
- 41.69 million public housing units for one year
- 67.92 million adults on Medicaid for one year
- 19.92 million veterans receiving VA medical care for one year
- 21.24 million Head Start slots for children for one year
- 21.85 million people with paid parental leave for one year
- 8.92 million university scholarships for four years
- 3.43 million livable wage jobs for single parents for one year
- 3.88 million elementary school teachers for one year
- 4.41 million firefighter positions for one year
- 9.77 million federal student loan forgiveness payments for one year
- 688.84 million households with solar electricity for one year
Repairers of the Breach is organizing Monday’s action alongside national and state-based partner organizations. Hundreds are expected to gather in Washington, DC, with thousands more joining online through livestream coverage. This flagship event in DC will also be accompanied by prophetic actions outside Congressional offices in states across the country.
Monday’s action is part of a growing national movement of nonviolent moral resistance demanding that elected leaders stop funding war and instead invest in the life-giving programs that sustain communities, including healthcare, housing, education, living wages, voting rights protections, environmental protections, and care for poor and working people.
EVENT DETAILS
WHO: National clergy leaders, bishops, faith leaders, impacted people, advocates, and people of moral conscience from across the country.
WHAT: Moral Monday Peace-Protest Rally Outside the White House, and over a quarter of US States
WHEN: Monday, May 18, 2026 at 5 PM ET
WHERE: H and 16th Street / White House area, Washington, DC
LIVESTREAM: Repairers of the Breach Live Page
Members of the press are encouraged to attend in person.
For additional information or to arrange interviews, please email press@breachrepairers.org.