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Let the Church ROAR!

About

Let the Church ROAR! was a political and religious rally held on Dec. 12, 2020 in Washington, D.C., on the National Mall and Capitol building. The rally criticized perceived corruption and fraud in the electoral process and called for Trump to be declared the winner of the 2020 election. The event was organized by a partnership of Jericho March and Stop the Steal, two activist groups that had organized numerous similar rallies around the country following Trump’s defeat. The event was supported by the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, the group founded by anti-feminist activist Schlafly in 1981 and, as of 2022, run by Missouri attorney Ed Martin. 

Participants joined a march and then gathered on the National Mall on the morning of Dec. 12. The rally featured a number of right-wing speakers who spread misinformation about election fraud, including former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn, Jenny Beth Martin of the Tea Party Patriots, Ali Alexander of Stop the Steal, right-wing author Eric Metaxas, and Republican Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.). Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist, led a chant of “destroy the GOP.” Amy Kremer, founder of Women for America First, also attended, as did Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and Mike Kelly (R-Penn.) and congress members-elect Lauren Boebert (R-Co.), Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-Ga.), Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), Mary Miller (R-Ill.), and Bob Good (R-Va.).

Right-wing militia and paramilitary groups attended the Let the Church ROAR! event, including the Proud Boys hate group. By the end of the event, at least four people were stabbed and numerous Black Lives Matter banners were ripped down from historically black churches.

The event also featured a “Jericho March” organized by the group of the same name. Organizers planned to “march around the U.S. Capitol seven times to send a very clear message to national and state leaders as they hear patriots and people of faith roar in support of election integrity, transparency, and reform.” The theme of the rally was intended to copy the Biblical story of the Israelite army marching around the walled city of Jericho, blowing the shofar until the walls crumbled, allowing the army to defeat its enemies.  

Boebert led an unauthorized tour of the Capitol late at night following the rally, which has prompted questions about whether it was a reconnaissance mission for the Jan. 6 attack. The event was Flynn’s first public appearance after receiving a pardon from President Donald Trump. 

January 6, 2021

  • At the Jericho March, CJ Pearson of the Free Thinker Project made remarks that presaged the violent rhetoric that would inspire the Capitol insurrection. Pearson said, “Donald Trump never stopped fighting for us, so we will never stop fighting for him. It doesn’t matter what we have to do. We will go from state to state, city to city, and we will organize, rally the troops.”
  • Eric Metaxas, one of the event’s organizers and speakers, used violent rhetoric in the leadup to the Dec. 12 Jericho March. He stated to Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk in an interview that Christians must fight “to the last drop of blood” to ensure Trump remains president.
  • During his remarks to the Jericho March attendees, radical right-wing Pennsylvania Sen. Doug Mastriano said they needed to “do what George Washington asked us to do in 1775. Appeal to Heaven. Pray to God. We need an intervention.” According to The New Yorker, “The phrase ‘appeal to heaven’ comes from John Locke’s argument in support of the right to violent revolution in the face of tyranny.”

The Big Lie