US Vice President JD Vance spoke candidly about faith, family, and free will as he addressed a crowd at a Turning Point USA event in Mississippi this week. Responding to a question about his wife Usha’s faith, Vance said he hoped she would one day embrace Christianity — but stressed that such matters must remain deeply personal.“And yes, my wife did not grow up Christian. I think it’s fair to say that she grew up in a Hindu family, but not a particularly religious family in either direction,” he said. “In fact, when I met my wife, we were both — I would consider myself an agnostic or an atheist. And that’s what I think she would have considered herself as well.”The Vice President, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, said he and Usha had built their marriage on open communication and respect for each other’s beliefs. “Everybody has to come to their own arrangement here. The way that we’ve come to our arrangement is she’s my best friend. We talk to each other about this stuff. So we decided to raise our kids Christian,” he said.
‘Our children go to Christian school’
Vance shared that their two eldest children attend a Christian school, and that their eight-year-old had recently celebrated his first communion. “Our eight-year-old did his first communion about a year ago. That’s the way that we have come to our arrangement,” he said, drawing applause from the audience.He described how the couple’s faith differences did not create tension at home. “Now, most Sundays, Usha will come with me to church,” Vance said. “As I’ve told her, and as I’ve said publicly, and I’ll say now in front of 10,000 of my closest friends — do I hope, eventually, that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved by in church? Yeah, I honestly do wish that, because I believe in the Christian gospel and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way.”
‘Faith is about free will’
However, he emphasised that faith must always be chosen freely. “But if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will. And so that doesn’t cause a problem for me,” he said. “That’s something you work out with your friends, with your family, with the person that you love. Again, one of the most important Christian principles is that you respect free will.”Vance added that Usha, whom he described as “closer to the priests who baptised me than maybe I am”, often speaks to them about religion. “My attitude is you figure this stuff out as a family and you trust in God to have a plan and you try to follow it as best as you can. And that’s what I try to do,” he said.
Interfaith understanding
Usha Vance, a Yale-educated lawyer and the first Indian American Second Lady, has previously said she has no plans to convert. In an earlier interview, she revealed that their three children — Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel — have been given the choice to decide their own religious path. “They can choose whether they want to be baptised Catholic and then go through the whole step-by-step process with their classes in school,” she said.Usha, who remains connected to her Hindu heritage through her parents and grandmother, said her family balances both faiths. “My grandmother is a devout Hindu. She prays every day, visits the temple regularly, does her puja. We spend a lot of time with her,” she said, adding that she would like to host a Holi celebration next year.
How social media reacted
Social media was flooded with anger after Vance said he wished his Hindu wife would be “moved by the Christian gospel”. Indian-origin users and commentators called his comments “demeaning” and “hypocritical”, noting that Usha has always described herself as a practising Hindu who has no intention of converting.“Usha Vance isn’t an agnostic. JD Vance was,” wrote one user, adding, “Little would she have known that this man will throw her under the bus to pursue his Presidential dream.” Another post read: “Woah—US VP JD Vance openly advising his Hindu wife to convert to Christianity?”Others pointed out that the couple held a Vedic Hindu wedding and have a son named Vivek. Some defended Vance, saying faith “shared in love is never forced”, while others accused him of “trying to convert his wife”.
What Usha Vance has said earlier
Usha Vance has on multiple occasions said that she proudly identifies as Hindu and has said she has no intention of converting to Christianity. A Yale-educated lawyer and the first Indian American Second Lady, she comes from a deeply spiritual Hindu family and continues to observe her faith through family traditions and cultural ties.“At the time when I met JD, he wasn’t Catholic, and he converted later and when he converted, we had a lot of conversations about that because it was actually after we had our first child, maybe it was after Vivek was born too,” she said. “When you convert to Catholicism it comes with several important obligations, like to raise your child in the faith and all that,” she said in an interview with Meghan McCain.
“We had to have a lot of real conversations about how do you do that, when I’m not Catholic, and I’m not intending to convert or anything like that,” Usha had said while speaking to Mccain in June.The Vances’ three children — Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel — are being raised in a Catholic environment but have been given the freedom to choose their own faith. “So what we’ve ended up doing is we send our kids to Catholic school, and we have given them each the choice, right? They can choose whether they want to be baptized Catholic and then go through the whole step-by-step process with their classes in school,” she said.Usha remains closely connected to her Hindu roots through her parents and grandmother. “My grandmother is a devout Hindu… We spend a lot of time with her,” she said.
