A reverend at a leftist counter-event to President Donald Trump’s Freedom 250 celebrations urged attendees to give thanks to “every God.”
Rev. Adriene Thorne, the “senior pastor” at Riverside Church in New York City, spoke to the crowd at Jane Fonda’s Committee for the First Amendment on June 14, 2026, and bizarrely invalidated her own faith by essentially deeming all religions valid and inspirational.
“… My fellow clergy and I have the great gift of working alongside Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh, Jewish, and religiously unaffiliated siblings. You cannot share meals and stories and taxis and not broaden your beliefs,” she said, making no mention of what God’s Word actually says.
“You cannot. You cannot share prayers and petitions and tears, and not experience a bigger idea of the God you were taught. You can’t witness the power and praise present in temples, good waters, mosques, synagogues, rallies, and vigils, and fail to question the size of the God we’ve been given,” she said, confusing the inescapable majesty and greatness of God with “gods” in false religions.
“The edges don’t hold. They don’t hold for me anymore. In these times when hope can feel lost when our questions are as complex as the answers we seek. I call on a bigger God,” she said, once again ignoring scripture showcasing how mighty and incomprehensible the Lord of Hosts is and pointing to several other pagan beliefs instead.
“The people who insist on any one religion superiority have lost the meaning of God,” she claimed, pointing to the “sacred rituals” in other religions that she said has grown her relationship with God.
“I love the questions and the wrestling and the doubt that being human brings, and I love that I’ve lived long enough to confidently declare that God is big enough to hold us all,” she proclaimed, distorting God’s principles to validate every religion, thereby suggesting there is no one, true way or truth.
“Yes, all our anger, all our disappointment, all our curiosity, all our delight, and all our joy, the God of the universe is big enough to hold all of who we are and all of what we carry,” she said, claiming, “My faith is not weaker for it.”
She referred to effectively ignoring God’s Word as “stretching” boundaries, which she said has “grown” her faith.
“Thanks thee to God, every God, for all of us,” she said.
Jesus, God’s Son who willingly gave up his life so humanity could be reconciled with God, explicitly said that there is one way to the Father.
John 14:6 reads, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” It remains unclear how Thorne interprets this scripture, given her apparent belief that all religions and “gods” are valid, under the guise of acceptance.
Her church describes itself as an “interdenominational, interracial, international, open, welcoming, and affirming church and congregation.” It claims its members are “united in the worship of God known in Jesus, the Christ, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.”
It remains unclear how the senior pastor’s thanks to “every god” aligns with this claimed position of faith.
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