More from our inbox:The Hamas TunnelsMake Child Care a Priority in the ElectionA Missed Opportunity to Make Paris More AccessibleImageJD Vance at a prayer breakfast in Milwaukee. In 2019, he was baptized and received his first communion at St. Gertrude Church in Ohio.Credit...Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times

To the Editor:slotslv

Re “In Catholicism, Vance Adopts a ‘Resistance’” (front page, Aug. 25):

As a Catholic intellectual and professional historian whose politics bears no resemblance to that of JD Vance, I write to correct any impression readers might have about an intrinsic connection or even defensible affinity between Roman Catholicism and Trumpism.

Donald Trump’s narcissism, insults, conception of masculinity and denigration of non-loyalists are the antithesis of the self-denial and service to others at the heart of the Gospel. His attacks on immigrants fly in the face of the biblical imperative to welcome the stranger. His mendacity mocks any commitment to truth.

It’s sad that Mr. Vance, a recent convert to Catholicism, has agreed to be the running mate of this Frankenstein monster of the vices. There are plenty of reasons for concern about the modern world and our contemporary challenges, from chasmic socioeconomic inequalities to our global environmental predicament.

But anyone who thinks that Trumpism, Project 2025 or reactionary Catholic integralism is a promising way to address them ought to read up on Mussolini’s Italy and Franco’s Spain.

Brad GregorySouth Bend, Ind.The writer is a professor of history at the University of Notre Dame.

To the Editor:

So let me get this straight: JD Vance’s desire to reject false values based on “consumption and pleasure” and instead pursue core values of “duty and virtue” has led him to Donald J. Trump. Someone a lot smarter than I am is going to have to explain that connection to me.

James H. StarkCromwell, Conn.

To the Editor:

When I saw the online headline of Elizabeth Dias’s article, “How JD Vance Found His Way to the Catholic Church,” I thought the answer was pretty obvious.

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