April 30, 2025
The activist pastor has been a long-time advocate for progressive causes that help the poor, women, and children.
Reverend William Barber, known for the “Poor People’s Campaign,” and more recently, his “Moral Monday” Progressive movement, has been arrested while praying inside the Capitol.
Rev. Barber was conducting a prayer in the Capitol Rotunda April 28 when U.S. Capitol police officers began arresting him and fellow participants. According to Jack Jenkins of the Religion News Service, Barber and two others were detained as fellow gatherers were prompted to leave the area.
Barber had already begun the morning before his afternoon arrest with his “Moral Monday” sermon on the Capitol steps. The pastor also delivered an address on behalf of the movement at the Supreme Court. Fellow religious leaders joined him to speak on the moral issues they believe plague the nation.
When we cannot depend on the courts and the legislative power of human beings, we can still depend on … the power of your love and your mercy and your truth,” Barber said in the Rotunda moments before police surrounded him. Barber showed footage of the incident to Facebook.
His group, Repairers of the Breach, also confirmed his detainment by Capitol police.
“Bishop Rev. Dr. William Barber II and Rev. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove were among those arrested this afternoon while praying in front of a statue that honors suffragettes in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda,” Barber’s group, Repairers of the Breach, said in a statement Monday afternoon.
The group’s statement also confirmed that their address spoke to the proposed budget cuts. They noted that the policy would negatively impact poor and working-class Americans.
“The arrests occurred after an interfaith gathering of leaders from across the nation delivered a moral message to the nation this morning at the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to sound the alarm on the immoral budget cuts and proposed budget cuts being pursued in Washington D.C. at the expense of the poor, working people, children, women, and families,” the statement continued.
However, a Capitol Police spokesperson told The Independent that the religious advocates were arrested for “crowding, obstructing, and incommoding.” The spokesperson emphasized that any demonstrations inside the Capitol are strictly prohibited. Additional footage showed reporters covering the prayer were also threatened with arrest if they did not leave the area.
“They were arrested for demonstrating inside the Congressional Buildings, which is not allowed in any form, including but not limited to sitting, kneeling, group praying, singing, chanting, etc. In this case, they began praying quietly and then transitioned to praying out loud. That is when we gave them multiple warnings to stop, or they would be arrested. The[y] didn’t stop,” said a US Capitol Police spokesperson.
Barber, however, was able to speak about the ordeal following his release. The incidents also caused him some pain due to his chronic illness, which limits his walking ability. Unswayed, he told RNS that his arrest further confirms the necessity of his acts of “nonviolent direct action.”
“To think that we went into pray—pray against the budget, but to pray nonetheless — and the order now is that, evidently, if you pray, you are seen as violating the rules of the Rotunda,” Barber told RNS after his arrest. “What we hope is that folks will see this and it will begin to remove some of the fear, and people will understand that this is the time — now — that we must engage in nonviolent direct action to register our discontent.”
Barber has been a steady opponent of non-progressive legislation. For over a decade, Barber’s religious beliefs have fueled his political activism as a leader of the Poor People’s Campaign. He has advocated for a raise in minimum wage, labor and voting rights within the Capitol and his home state.
The pastor has advocated for these policies even within the previous Biden Administration. However, his cause gained new momentum under Trump’s second term. This time, the activist pastor has vocalized his discontent with federal funding cuts to Medicaid and Social Security. Always referencing God in his speeches, he criticized Trump’s “foolish” budget plans during the recent “Hands Off” day of action.
However, his arrest contradicts the Trump administration’s stance on protecting other religious activists. Moreover, Trump also approved the establishment of a “task force” to root out “anti-Christian policies” within the government. The chairwoman of this initiative, Attorney General Pam Bondi, even placed blame on former President Biden for “targeting peaceful Christians” during his leadership.
Moreover, Trump recently pardoned Christian activists who blocked the entrance to abortion clinics in Washington State. The move suggests his support for these protestors may only extend to those who favor his policies and conservative values.
RELATED CONTENT: Rev. William Barber II To Head Yale Divinity School Center For Public Theology And Public Policy
