The week after the presidential win by former President Donald Trump, the heart of Boston saw a peculiar spectacle. Throngs of men in suits and religious garb populated the streets alongside an opposing parade of people, some dressed as clowns — wigs, red noses, the works. The pro-life “Men’s March,” organized by The National Men’s March to Abolish Abortion and Rally for Personhood, took place on Nov. 16, 2024 and culminated in over a hundred protestors marching from the Boston Planned Parenthood on Commonwealth Street to Boston Common. 

The demonstration attracted a slew of counter protesters, some of whom were dressed as clowns to make a mockery of the anti-abortion rally. The counter-protesters wore costumes that mixed bright rainbow colors with bold geometric patterns that juxtaposed the Men’s March’s muted colors and solemn disposition. Some members of the Boston Clown March attendees came prepared with kazoos, harmonicas and recorders to drown out the noise of the anti-choice marchers. The Men’s March recited a Hail Mary while a marching band within the counter-protest group played a jaunty tune.

As these counter-protesters clashed with participants of the Men’s March and police enforcement, 17 people were arrested according to the official police report released the following Monday. 

While the march was not endorsed by the Boston Archdiocese, its context was undoubtedly a religious one. The evening before, Sacred Heart Church in Waltham hosted a prayer session and mass in honor of the Men’s March, as was advertised on Facebook by one of the organizers. In response, members of the First Parish, Waltham’s Unitarian-Universalist congregation, hosted a dueling prayer service which focused on reproductive justice. Reverend Elizabeth Carrier-Ladd led the service with the goal to “speak up for the rights of all people.” The organizers shared, “As UU's we show up to side with love for all. We speak out when we see the forces of oppression that would take these rights away from any of us.”

Political strife has caused much division across Christian denominations. As some members begin to push for more wayward-thinking religious structures while facing resistance from conservative members, political strife has taken hold of once united denominations, causing split offs, schisms and disaffiliations across the globe. 

The United Methodist Church has seen decades of debate and turmoil due to issues of sexuality in the church. In 2019, the UMC voted to tighten its ban on same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy members, a landmark moment in recent UMC developments. After this decision, thousands of churches began disaffiliating under a temporary measure that allowed churches to leave the UMC while keeping their properties and assets.

As of May 1, 2024, the UMC voted to allow LGBTQ+ clergy to serve after a 40 year ban. This historic outcome is a decisive mark of the times, as the vote on the consent calendar was 692-51 with a 93% approval rate. 

The vote is a reflection of the thousands of Methodist ministries across the country who have been pushing for inclusivity of all identities, not just in their congregations but at all levels of involvement in the church. The Belmont-Watertown United Methodist Church is one of many “reconciling churches” that boast these values. In light of the May 1 vote at the general UMC conference, the church website states, “we want to affirm that we are an inclusive congregation and all are welcome here.” It sits below a statement that says that they celebrate all persons “and welcome them into the full participation in the life of this beloved community.”

In 2012, the Belmont United Methodist Church and St. John’s United Methodist Church in Watertown joined to form a new congregation. They now operate from both sites, holding worship services at the Belmont location and Alcoholics Anonymous and other programming at the Watertown location. Services are led by Reverend Aaron Yi, who was born into a Korean Methodist Christian family and went on to study theology and music in Munich, Paris and Boston. Yi holds an innovative and forward-thinking approach to leading worship and seeks to share fresh interpretations of the Bible for transformative faith.

Yi does not hesitate to directly address the current political climate from the pulpit as those issues relate to his clerical mission. Following the election, he preached on the relationship between Christianity and nationalism. “I clearly said at the beginning of my sermon that my anger and disappointments were not only because of the election results,” Yi told The Justice in a Dec. 18, 2024 interview. Rather, his concern as a citizen and as a spiritual leader was with the criteria that voters considered before casting their votes. “When the number one principle to choose a candidate is economics, that is really dangerous,” he explained. To Yi, the sole prioritization of the economy is what seems to disrupt the moral and ethical fabric of the nation.

Despite preaching openly about current political issues, Yi emphasized that the church’s job is not to advocate for specific public policies or any one leader’s personal stance. His approach is to return to passages in the Bible and carefully apply those messages to contemporary contexts. 

On the precarious future of the church, Yi said that one thing is clear: if the church does not embrace diversity, it will die. “We have to open the church doors towards new possibilities, a new generation, new people and new ideas,” he remarked.

While Methodist churches have been in a moment of political polarization and are only now beginning to diverge from its long-held stances on LGBTQ+ marriages and ordinations this election year, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is considered one of the most welcoming denominations to both LGBTQ+ congregants and clergy and generally leans left on social issues. The ELCA, which is the largest Lutheran church body in the U.S., lifted their ban on gay clergy in 2009. 

The First Lutheran Church of Waltham stands at the corner of Eddy and Weston Street, and a banner that reads “Reconciling in Christ. Welcome. Inclusion. Celebration” hangs from its front door. Their website reads a similar statement of inclusion to the Belmont-Watertown’s, welcoming people of all identities “to join us in worship, leadership, participation in rites and sacraments of the church, and fellowship.” 

Reverend Thomas Maehl has been leading First Lutheran since 1999 after a decade-long career as a software developer. On Dec. 18, he spoke to The Justice about his thoughts on the church and how he has chosen to address the political landscape following the election.

Like Yi, Maehl chooses not to champion personal stances but rather to confront the various responses to contentious political disputes with one question: “how do you start with Jesus and end up here?” With this approach of curiosity, Maehl works to open up channels of conversations rather than to criticize an opposing viewpoint. 

“I just think we’re not listening to each other,” he said. These open conversations within the congregation are the backbone of Maehl’s pastoral leadership. The welcoming statements on the church’s website, for instance, were voted on as a congregation. 

Beyond the church community itself, First Lutheran is active in mutual aid initiatives in Waltham. They own nine affordable housing units, all run by a volunteer board. Another group of 15 people is working to resettle a family seeking asylum from Haiti. They have a Justice and Service Team that works on a number of different projects from food pantries to refugee support. 

These stories of engagement from Boston’s streets to the pews of its churches speak to a long-cultivated tension at the heart of American religious communities. Whether through protests, prayer services or grassroots initiatives, congregations are grappling with how they should respond to an increasingly polarized political and religious landscape. Leaders like Yi and Maehl offer a path forward: one that prioritizes dialogue, compassion and service as bridges across the divide.