NEW YORK (RNS) — Hundreds gathered at Central Park’s Columbus Circle entrance on Saturday morning (March 28) for an interfaith vigil ahead of New York City’s “No Kings” march to protest the Trump administration.
The Rev. Paul Raushenbush, president and CEO of Interfaith Alliance, kicked off the event by noting the importance of faith communities taking a place within the “No Kings” movement.
“Faithful people from all different backgrounds have to show up for ‘No Kings’ because authoritarians and would-be kings … their main pillar is often religious folks who want to prop up autocracy so they have proximity to power and impose their idea on what faith is on all the rest of us,” he told the crowd gathered in front of the USS Maine National Monument.
In his hands, Raushenbush held a sign that read “Yes to religious freedom for all” and “Christian Nationalism” crossed out.
Saturday was the third edition of the No Kings rally and drew millions across the country, and in Europe, for protests in more than 3,500 cities, including Washington, Miami, San Francisco and in Europe.
Protestors from an interfaith vigil carry homemade palm leaves as they join the larger No Kings march in Manhattan, NY, on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (Fiona André/RNS)
The marches, first held in June and again in October, denounce what protestors see as executive overreach. “Trump wants to rule over us as a tyrant. But this is America, and power belongs to the people — not to wannabe kings or their billionaire cronies,” reads the movement’s website.
Saturday’s flagship rally was held in St. Paul, Minn., where Alex Pretti and Renée Good were fatally shot in January by federal agents deployed in the state as part of U.S. Immigration Enforcement’s “Metro surge” operation.
Minnesota clergy who had led widespread efforts to counter ICE in the Twin Cities spoke at the …