Jane Yoder-Short’s column about the Miss America pageant and the Book of Esther stood out vividly for me (“The Trophy Queen Says ‘No,’ ” July 16). I am appalled at how little we have learned from several thousand years of experience. The story is vividly before us, as well as its implications, but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears. We have a president who looks like King Ahasuerus and is proud of it. We have a voting population that admires or at least closes its eyes to sexism and tyranny. This admiration or denial lives in our churches, our families and our communities. I pray that God, who has seen it all, can speak to us, forgive us and heal us.

Ken Kauffman
Whiskey Hill, Ore.