Tens of thousands of Tea Party activists have gathered in Washington to hear calls for religion to be given a more prominent role in US politics.
Fox News commentator Glenn Beck said Washington must embrace the long tradition of Christianity in the US as part of its decision-making.
"Something beyond imagination is happening," Mr Beck said at the Lincoln Memorial. "America today begins to turn back to god."
Mr Beck (46), was joined by Tea Party heroine Sarah Palin, a contributor to Fox News, at the rally.
The group has insisted the assembly - on the same steps where Martin Luther King jnr delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech 47 years ago - is not a political event. Instead, the rally is billed as a celebration of the military, patriotism and American heritage.
Ms Palin told the crowd the US was at a “symbolic crossroads” of its history. "Look around you. You're not alone. You are Americans,” she said. "You have the same steel spine and the moral courage of Washington and Lincoln and Martin Luther King jnr."
She said it was "humbling" to be with the "patriots" who had gathered for the rally. "We must restore America and restore her honour," she said.
The gathering started assembling before dawn as people carrying lawn chairs and water arrived on the National Mall. Attendees were discouraged from bringing signs and no current officeholders are scheduled to speak.
Even so, there has been plenty of political activity around the gathering.
Activists gathered at a warm-up event yesterday organised by FreedomWorks, an advocacy group affiliated with the Tea Party, where they listened to candidates and picked up campaign signs supporting Tea Party-backed candidates.
"What happens this year will make what happened in 1994 look like a Sunday picnic," said Mike Lee, a Republican candidate for the Senate in Utah told the gathering, in a reference to Republicans gaining control of the House in that year's election.
The Tea Party has been bolstered by skirmishes their candidates have won in a war against the political establishment. One is playing out in Ms Palin's home state Alaska, where Senator Lisa Murkowski trails a Tea Party rival in a protracted Republican primary vote count.
Ms Murkowski (53), who followed her father into office, is 1,668 votes behind political newcomer Joe Miller (43), a Gulf War Army veteran endorsed by Ms Palin and Tea Party activists.
Thousands of absentee votes are yet to be counted to determine the winner of the poll.