There will be at least two sets of clergy praying on this Inauguration Day for Donald Trump. One will be praying for Trump and his administration, and the other will be praying that the plans he has promised to carry out as president don’t cause people or our country irreparable harm.
The inauguration is expected to include an invocation by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, and a prayer by the evangelical Rev. Franklin Graham, the head of Samaritan’s Purse.
To put it another way, on Inauguration Day, there’ll be one group of clergy standing beside an incoming president promising to roll back the gains of the Civil Rights Movement, and another group of clergy celebrating — with sincerity and a real appreciation for his life’s work — the birthday of the great civil rights leader and orator Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. What these two groups are praying for will be vastly different, and moreover, are likely to further open rifts not just politically, but religiously and socially, as well.
Among the issues likely to push them farther apart is immigration.
The inauguration is expected to include an invocation by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, and a prayer by the evangelical Rev. Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham and the head of Samaritan’s Purse. Events before the inauguration were scheduled to include other conservative clergy and religious figures such as Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, and David Barton, the Christian nationalist historian whose teachings House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said have had “a profound influence on me, and my work, and my life and everything I do.”
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For MAGA clergy and religious figures standing with Trump, his inauguration will be the culmination of their earnest prayers, rallies and political participation after their appeals to Christian nationalism, faith and fear. But they may get more than they bargained for.
After the congratulations and backslapping will come the reality of what Trump has promised to do as president.
While I am sure they believe his policies won’t hurt them any, perhaps they should think again.
Trump, who has promised to begin mass deportations immediately, has also vowed to rescind the “sensitive locations” memo that generally keeps Immigration and Customs Enforcement from going into places like churches, schools, hospitals and even funerals to complete an enforcement action. What happens when ICE invades churches and schools? How will religious leaders who support Trump rationalize that? Will they side with the administration, or will they heed the admonitions of their faith that prompt them to care for those less fortunate?
How will Dolan react if ICE comes into a parish or Catholic school in New York?
How will Dolan react if ICE comes into a parish or Catholic school in New York? Does he think he can lead an invocation for Trump without being seen as endorsing the mayhem Trump has promised to unleash?
As I wrote this month, Cardinal Robert McElroy, the incoming archbishop of Washington, has said the Catholic Church won’t stand idly by “while more than 10% of our flock is ripped from our midst and deported,” and it’s no coincidence that Pope Francis is sending him to Washington as Trump is starting a second term.
For clergy who embrace King’s message and politics, Monday will be a day of remembrance — and preparation. Since 2007, the New Sanctuary movement has come together to demand faith-based immigrant justice in the wake of harsh immigration bills being passed. In an opinion piece for Sojourners magazine headlined “We won’t be intimidated,” Michael Woolf, the pastor of a church in the New Sanctuary movement, says “congregations must prepare now by building consensus about precisely what level of risk they are willing to take in the middle of mass deportations.”
King similarly asked the people who wanted to join in civil rights protests how much they were willing to risk. Trump’s vow of mass deportation will confront clergy and others in ways they may not imagine. Just this month, Border Patrol agents arrested 78 undocumented immigrants in California’s Fresno and Kern counties. These arrests, happening right before Trump’s inauguration, have created fear and distrust, and this will certainly escalate when arrests intensify. Some leaders, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, have already issued guidelines for immigration reform that recognize the right of the government to protect the border while asking that enforcement “consider families, community ties, and religious liberty interests.” In a 2024 survey by Lifeway, 50% of evangelicals said recent immigrants are a drain on economic resources. More than a third described recent immigrants as a threat to the safety of citizens (37%) and a threat to law and order (37%), while 28% described them as a threat to traditional American customs and culture. Dolan and Graham shouldn’t complain if their names are attached to the horrors of mass deportation. Some evangelical leaders, including the National Association of Evangelicals, have asked Trump to set a “refugee admissions ceiling” of at least 50,000 people, as he did in the first year of his first term. This proposed ceiling, set out in a statement titled “A Christian Statement on Refugee Settlement,” asks that refugees be regarded differently from migrants because refugees are screened overseas before legally arriving in the United States. Other clergy make no distinctions between the two groups. People in both groups are desperate for the promise of safety and security America can offer. Dolan and Graham and other clergy standing with Trump shouldn’t complain if their names are attached to the horrors of mass deportation. They made the decision to participate in his inauguration. Why shouldn’t they be linked to the things to come? CLARIFICATION (Jan. 22, 2025, 5:48 E.T.): A previous version of this article mischaracterized a request that the National Association of Evangelicals made to President Donald Trump regarding refugee admissions. The NAE has asked for a ceiling of at least 50,000, not 50,000.
Anthea Butler is a professor of religious studies and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania. 
