Gary Penn, center, reads  “One Day,” the poem Richard Blanco wrote for Barack Obama’s second inauguration during an inauguration alternative at First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Portland on Monday. The Rev. Norman Allen, right, the church’s minister, said the gathering was a time for apolitical contemplation and reflection. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald

At the start of President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House on Monday, about 30 parishioners at the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Portland gathered to consider a future they had hoped would not arrive.

At noon, the precise moment that Trump was sworn in at a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda attended by members of Congress, wrestlers, billionaires, foreign leaders and other dignitaries, the spacious downtown church was filled with music, candles and recitations of poetry from previous presidential inaugurations.

“It’s contemplative, reflective,” said the Rev. Norman Allen, the church’s minister. “No politics.”

Although politics weren’t on the agenda — partisan speeches, signs or slogans were not present — the policies of the incoming administration motivated the hourlong gathering billed as “A Contemplative Inauguration Alternative.”

The Portland gathering was apolitical, but Unitarian Universalists have strongly opposed Trump in the past. The Unitarian Universalist Association called for his impeachment and removal from office following the Jan. 6, 2021, mob attack on the Capitol intended to halt the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory.

Trump has drawn strong pushback from opponents over his promises to deport undocumented immigrants, establish federal recognition of two genders, disrupt government efforts to stem climate change and impose other changes by executive order or through law if Congress cooperates.

Advertisement

“I think a lot of the president-elect’s campaign aroused fears about immigration, the trans community and women’s issues,” Allen said. “This is a place to get away from the television.”

Parishioners at First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church listen to piano music during the Inauguration Alternative gathering on Monday.  Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald

The Unitarian congregants who oppose the new president’s policies have plenty of company in Maine. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, carried the state on Election Day by nearly 58,000 votes, or 52.4%, against Trump’s 45.5%.

It wasn’t all bleak for Maine Republicans, however. Jim Deyermond, chair of the Maine Republican Party, highlighted the state’s small contribution to Trump’s national victory, delivering one of the state’s four electoral votes from the 2nd Congressional District he carried Nov. 5.

“Maine is proud to have played our part in delivering this victory and now we begin the work of restoring American Greatness,” he said in a statement on Monday.

Deyermond cited numerous executive orders Trump has promised to issue: declaring a national emergency on the southern border, ending the Green New Deal intended to promote clean energy, establishing a Department of Government Efficiency and more.

Supporters of the president gathered in Topsham at an “Inaugural Watch Party” sponsored by Maine Stands Up, a group that says it seeks to defend the Constitution. Brian Roy, Sagadahoc County Republican Party chair, said in an email that they enthusiastically responded to Trump’s speech, particularly when he “spoke on his faith and to our nation’s commitment to God.”

Advertisement

And they were excited at the president’s mention, Roy said, of an External Revenue Service intended to collect money from tariffs, and a Department of Government Efficiency that Trump has promised to establish.

Kelley McDaniel, a Portland resident, came to the Unitarian church concerned about several policies of Trump’s. She said the president’s gender policy is “anti-trans” and would prohibit U.S. travelers from checking “X” as their gender on their passports. He also would “strip protections” for federal employees, McDaniel said.

“I guess I wanted to be with other like-minded people,” she said. “I have the same concerns about the next four years.”

Brenda Franey, who played piano interludes between the readings of poems from the presidential inaugurations of John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Biden, said she picked musical pieces that were “contemplative.”

Among them was a scriptural verse, “Comfort, comfort, ye my people.”

“It seemed appropriate in these turbulent times,” Franey said.

Related Headlines

Join the Conversation

Please sign into your Press Herald account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.

filed under: