Thoughtul, evangelical voters

I read with great interest Tom Cox’s review of Kristen Du Mez Liveright’s “Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation” (Sunday, “Jesus, John Wayne and Justification by Faith in the American Way”).

Much of Mr. Cox’s review is dedicated to summarizing several of Ms. Du Mez Liveright’s hypotheses as to why 81% of the evangelical block voted as it did in the 2016 election and as a white, male, evangelical, I continue to be baffled by these and other publications which seem to look past perhaps one of the most obvious reasons.

For me, and I suspect a myriad other evangelicals, I weighed heavily the opportunity (since realized) that the incoming president would likely have to appoint several significant federal judge positions; an opportunity to stem the tide of our federal courts acting as a quasi-legislative branch to further progressive agendas-a legacy that would hopefully long outlive this president’s term.

Though Mr. Cox’s diatribe of characterizing President Donald Trump as a “buffoon” who has “violated every contract he has made”’ strays far from what one would expect in an objective book review (his conjecture that American Christians stood alone in their concern over Islamic extremism following 9/11 is laughable and only warrants being called out as such), I would encourage him and others to consider that a block of voters that likely numbers in the 10s of millions probably has as many varied reasons for their voting as the people represented.

The 2016 election did indeed present a difficult decision to many, evangelicals included. I readily admit that Mr. Trump’s character leaves much to be desired. But perhaps some evangelicals are actually thoughtful people who take our civic responsibilities seriously and have a purpose and intent to how we vote, and we’re not simply a group of hyper-male, war-mongering lemmings who march blindly to the directives of Jerry Falwell and the like.

TIM NATH

Bridgeville