FOR Executive Director and Other Faith Leaders Arrested for Praying in U.S. Capitol

Monday, May 5, 2025, Washington, D.C. — FOR-USA Executive Director, Ariel Gold and four other faith leaders were arrested on Monday for praying in the U.S. Capitol. Gold; Shane Claiborne of Red Letter Christians; Revs. Alvin Jackson and Hanna Broome, with Repairers of the Breach and the Poor People’s Campaign; and Rev. Joel Simpson, pastor at First United Methodist Church in Taylorsville, North Carolina entered the U.S. Capitol rotunda to pray for a moral budget. “Who’s in charge here,” asked the Capitol police, demanding that the moral leaders cease praying. “God of justice, God, God is in charge,” they replied and kept praying in woe of the proposed Trump/GOP budget that will gut Medicaid, housing and food for the poor, and other social safety net programs while raising the Pentagon budget to a whopping $1 trillion.

“We think that these are extreme times, and they warrant extreme measures,” Claiborne said. “So we’re going to bear witness, non-violently.”

The faith leaders had initially approached the U.S. Capitol steps to stage their prayer, but police erected barricades as they approached and temporarily closed off the area on the east side of the Capitol.

The action was the second arrest at the U.S. Capitol in an ongoing Repairers of the Breach/Poor People’s Campaign Moral launched in April, 2025 by Rev. William Barber, arrested in the Capitol rotunda the week before, to counter the proposed Republican budget. “We spent the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency studying his administration’s proposals to dismantle the federal government,” Barber said. “We issued a report with the Institute for Policy Studies to help the public understand what the consequences of a Trump budget would be. It is a sad day in America when you can be arrested in the people’s house for merely praying because the congresspeople in a party in that house are choosing to prey — P-R-E-Y — on the most vulnerable of this nation, along with the president of the nation. But we will not bow. We will not stop. We have to raise moral dissent.”

From Ariel Gold:

“The most central tenant of Judaism is B’tselem Elohim, the concept that all people are created in the divine likeness of G-d. Regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, citizenship or economic circumstances, each of us is unique and irreplaceable. B’tselem Elohim is the core of Jewish ethics and social teachings, compelling us to show compassion, kindness, and pursue justice, to ensure the dignity of every single human being. 

It was thanks to Section 8 housing, Medicaid, afterschool programs, and stretching SNAP (food stamp) benefits that I was able to obtain a masters degree in social work as a single mother of two elementary school age children. To means-test or attach work requirements to such basic human rights as healthcare, food, and housing, as Trump’s proposed budget outlines, is an abomination in the eyes of G-d. As people of faith and conscientious, we must refuse to stand idly by as this sinful budget passes—and so we went to pray inside the U.S. Capitol.”

The proposed budget includes:

• $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid, resulting in losses of coverage for 36 million people and the closure of medical facilities, especially in rural areas.
• Reducing food assistance (SNAP) by $230 billion through 2034, rolling back decades of progress. Nearly 15 million children—40% of all SNAP recipients—face the specter of hunger. These cuts will hit Black and Latino children hardest and deepen racial health disparities.
• The elimination of tens of thousands of Section 8 rental vouchers, devastating communities already reeling from rising rents and homelessness.

Some ways you can help: 

• Make a donation to support FOR’s work with coalitions like these committed to a world where all people are valued and cared for.
• Moral Mondays, sponsored FOR-USA and numerous other faith-based groups, will continue. Sign up here for notifications and to be part of the upcoming Moral Mondays actions. 

Prayer led by Ariel Gold at the preceding rally in front of the U.S. Capitol:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ
וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ וְאִמוֹתֵינוּ, אֱלֹהֵי 
אַבְרָהָם, אֱלֹהֵי יִצְחָק וֵאלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב,
אֱלֹהֵי שָׂרָה, אֱלֹהֵי רִבְקָה, אֱלֹהֵי
רָחֵל וֵאלֹהֵי לֵאָה

Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu v’elohei avoteinu v’imoteinu

Elohei Avraham, Elohei Sarah, Elohei Yitzchak, Elohei Rivka, Elohei Ya’akov, Elohei Rachel, v’Elohei Leah.

Blessed are You, Eternal our God and God of our ancestors

God of Abraham, God of Sarah, God of Isaac and God of Rebecca, God of Jacob, God of Rachel, and God of Leah who created us in Your image, who bestows kindness and goodness who compels us to love our neighbor and care for the stranger among us. 

Blessed are You, eternal our God and God of our ancestors who requires us to pursue justice, to feed the hungry, ensure healthcare, housing, and dignity for all. 

Blessed are You, Eternal our God and God of our ancestors who teach us to turn our swords into plowshares. 

Shelter us with your peace and love that we may work together to build a better world.