I don’t remember if the band performed “Jesus and John Wayne,” the 2008 song that Kristin Kobes Du Mez chose as the title for her “ Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation.” But Gaither’s exhortation to focus on the gospel rather than politics is in keeping with the more “tender” version of white Christian masculinity that Du Mez identifies as prominent in the 1990s and that she associates with the song, which locates ideal Christian manhood “somewhere between Jesus and John Wayne.” Most of Du Mez’s impressive book, however, is about the historical origins and present ascendance of a more militant Christian masculinity - less Jesus and more John Wayne, in her framing - that has culminated in white evangelicals’ steady and unflinching support for the swaggering, immoral Trump. Attending despite already being non-religious and uncomfortable in a crowd like the one drawn in by Bill Gaither in his home state, I was somewhat heartened when he declared at the outset that we should set political differences aside for the afternoon as we worshiped God and enjoyed gospel music. Trump had been confirmed as the presumptive GOP nominee in the upcoming presidential election. About a month earlier, on May 3, Donald J.
On June 12, 2016, I joined my mother and some relatives for a concert by the Christian group Gaither Vocal Band in Carmel, Ind.
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