On Nov. 6, many U.S. Amish, Brethren in Christ and Mennonites woke up feeling encouraged that their country was heading in a better direction; others were discouraged by the presidential election’s outcome.

We live in the large Amish Mennonite community in northeastern Ohio, where a majority of our co-religionists voted for the Republican ticket of Donald Trump and JD Vance. The same, we understand, likely was true of our Pennsylvania, Indiana and Kansas cousins.

We are members of congregations that share a 500-year history and affirm common theological threads such as the centrality of Christ, the Christian community and reconciliation in interpreting scripture. Some of us vote, while many of our traditional members do not vote but pray — and were equally encouraged on that Wednesday morning, for several reasons.

The economy. The scriptures aspire that all should be able to live under their vine and fig tree — a figure of speech for having sufficient land, food and shelter. Government spending over the past four years was seen as causing inflation, which made people poorer, especially in buying staples such as groceries, houses and rent.

While many in our traditional Anabaptist communities have greater family and community support to go through inflationary times, we join our neighbors in desiring less inflation and more opportunities to earn a living. We believe a market-oriented economy provides more support in having a ­living wage for individuals and families.

And the economic context must be combined with human effort, which leads us to our second reason for feeling encouraged: character.

JD Vance. Jesus’ references to the rulers of his day do not give us many positive attributes for the Roman Caesar or the Jewish Pharisees. Yet, both Jesus and the Apostle Paul appealed to their government leaders, and today we prefer a living example of honorable human character and effort, such as our Ohio Appalachian senator.

Born into a tragic Hillbilly ­Elegy (the title of his memoir) culture, Vance — with a combination of family, education, discipline and a market economy — has become a civic and family role model for many of us. Although Donald Trump’s character often scandalizes our moral universe, he has surrounded himself with many Jews and Christians such as Vance.

Christendom. First-century Christians lived a separatist life in a pagan Roman world but, being a missionary people, grew until by the third century the Emperor Constantine embraced them. Christians began to govern the worldly institutions, including the army; we call it Christendom. In the 16th century, we Anabaptists broke with Christendom and for the next 100 years were persecuted in Europe.

However, for the last 400 years, the Christendom of the Americas, from British Columbia to Bolivia, has become a friendly environment for many of our churches. Christendom has provided us some stability on traditional marriage, family and sexual norms.

Our ancestors prayed for their friendly rulers, calling them half-­Anabaptists in their prayer books. Many of us would continue to have such prayers for President Biden and Vice President Harris — as well as our incoming magistrates, Trump and Vance — which leads to a final reason.

World peace. The New Testament and our Anabaptist forebears give guidance to seeking peace and reconciliation on a personal level and, by extension, to relationships among nations. We have traditionally called it nonresistance or pacifism, and it has been a defining belief and practice in our history and life.

At the same time, we respect the role of policing. When justice and order break down, all suffer, especially the poor. But for the United States to be the world’s police officer seems increasingly problematic and adds to misery, displacement and death. We no longer send our own troops but many billions of dollars in military aid; our leaders even highlight factories where munitions manufacturing provides employment. In a Trump administration, we hope for a more modest military approach.

So, modestly, we end, aware that many other Anabaptists were among the discouraged on the first Wednesday of November, for many reasons: the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, Republican-supported abortion restrictions, the ongoing reality of racism and U.S. support for Israel’s actions, among others. We acknowledge these concerns but recognize that Anabaptist Christians, even in the same congregation or conference, can come to different political decisions.

A democracy is never pure; we are aware of legitimate competing interests, unintended outcomes and human fallibility. We are simply noting a few reasons, in a humble spirit, why we and many of our Anabaptist neighbors voted as we did.

Levi Miller is from Wooster, Ohio. Daniel Miller is from Walnut Creek, Ohio.