When JD Vance instructed a stadium of 1000’s he hoped his wife would someday be moved “by the Christian gospel” the identical means he was, he inadvertently stepped into a contentious dialogue in India and among the many diaspora about spiritual freedom and, for some, evoked recollections of the nation’s sophisticated previous with Christian proselytizing.
Speaking at an occasion final month with Turning Point USA on the University of Mississippi, Vance was requested by an viewers member about Christianity and American patriotism.
“Why are we making Christianity one of the major things that you have to have in common to be one of you guys? To show that I love America just as much as you do?” the viewers member requested.
In an assertive and prolonged response that started on immigration, Vance then mentioned his interfaith marriage: “My wife did not grow up Christian. I think it’s fair to say she grew up in a Hindu family but not in a particularly religious family.”
Raised in an evangelical household, Vance transformed to Catholicism in 2019. His wife, Usha Vance, who grew up in Southern California and is of Indian descent, was raised in a Hindu family.
“Do I hope eventually that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved by in church? 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,” Vance went on to say.
As the controversy round these feedback started to swell on-line amongst some Indians and the Indian diaspora, Vance responded to a since-deleted remark on X, writing that “like many people in an interfaith marriage,” he hopes his wife may even see issues as he does someday, however would proceed to assist her regardless.
Speaking on October 30 on the Turning Point USA occasion honoring his longtime good friend and late conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, Vance defined that he and his wife had been “agnostic or atheist” once they met.
“We decided to raise our kids Christian,” the vp stated, including that the couple’s 8-year-old son, Vivek, had his first communion a yr in the past –– a comment that drew thunderous applause.
Usha Vance talked about navigating elevating youngsters in an interfaith marriage throughout an interview with Meghan McCain in June, noting she and her husband had a number of conversations about it throughout his conversion to Catholicism.
“I’m not Catholic and I’m not intending to convert or anything like that,” Usha Vance stated.
She added that whereas their youngsters attend Catholic faculty, “they can choose whether they want to be baptized Catholic.” They are additionally uncovered to the Hindu religion and traditions by means of her household, she stated.
“My grandmother is a particularly devout Hindu. She prays every day. She goes to the temple regularly. She’ll do her own pujas (prayer rituals).”
During the occasion final month, the vp stated, “One of the most important Christian principles is that you respect free will … 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.”
But, regardless of Vance’s invocation of free will, his remarks struck a nerve –– some described the vp’s phrases as denigrating in the direction of Hindus –– and broadly, South Asians –– at a time of rising hostilities in the direction of immigrants in the US.
“It’s ridiculous and absolutely wrong,” 25-year-old Kush Mehta of New Delhi instructed NCS of Vance’s feedback expressing his hope his wife would convert. “I’m in favor of everyone having their own identity, their own values, and their own spiritual path. No one should be forced or pressured into any religion.”
“Vance felt compelled to declare that his wife was indeed raised Hindu, but not that Hindu,” NCS affiliate NCS-News18 editor Shubhangi Sharma wrote in an opinion column. “In a political climate so charged against Indian immigrants, this is not just personal. It’s political. It’s a presidential call to convert.”
“When an elected leader treats his faith as the ultimate ideal for everyone, including his wife, it ceases to be personal,” Areena Arora, a journalist with The Hindu, wrote in an opinion piece, noting on the time of his baptism six years in the past, Vance instructed The American Conservative: “My views on public policy and what the optimal state should look like are pretty aligned with Catholic social teaching.”
For some, Vance’s feedback had been a reminder of India’s painful previous, the place the arrival of Europeans in the late fifteenth century heralded Christian proselytization, prejudice and, at instances, compelled conversions – notably underneath British colonial rule.
“The belief that the Christian religion must shape public order is the same civilisational justification that fuelled Europe’s conquest of the world,” Arora, a journalist with The Hindu, wrote.
“Because of the differences between how Hindus and Christians think of religion, and because of the colonial history of Christian evangelizing, many Hindus today still think of Christianity as a kind of undigestible ‘foreign faith,’” stated Chad Bauman, a professor of spiritual research at Butler University in Indiana whose analysis focuses on the interactions and conflicts between Hindus and Christians.
“This view is particularly common among the supporters of the party currently in charge,” Bauman added, referring to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its model of Hindu Nationalism.
India has seen recurring ethnic and spiritual clashes for hundreds of years – however tensions have surged in latest a long time amid a rise in violence in opposition to the Christian and Muslim minorities and, most notably, for the reason that BJP got here to energy in 2014.
India’s structure ensures freedom of faith, though some critics argue that spiritual freedoms have been eroded underneath the BJP on the expense of non-Hindu minorities. The problem of adjusting faith stays deeply controversial, and a number of states have put in place legal guidelines limiting spiritual conversions for all faiths.
Bauman stated Vance’s remarks additionally confirmed a widespread stereotype many Hindus have of faith in Trump’s America: “America is not a nation of religious tolerance and pluralism but rather one that privileges Christianity over all other religions.”
Several social media customers described Vance’s feedback as opposite to American values.
One X consumer criticized Vance for what they considered as him casting Usha’s Hindu religion as a “problem to be fixed,” writing: “This isn’t American values; it’s weak leadership & poor politics, bending to MAGA pressure, not defending her dignity.”
Another consumer wrote on X: “When JD Vance had hit his lowest, it was his ‘Hindu’ wife and her Hindu upbringing that had helped him navigate through the tough times. Today in a position of power, her religion has become a liability. What a fall.”
For some in India, Usha Vance’s place in the administration as a lady of Hindu religion has become a level of delight.
“It’s amazing … to see someone with Indian roots and a Hindu background in such a visible, powerful space in the US. It shows how far the community has come and how diverse leadership is becoming,” stated Mehta of Mumbai.
If the second woman does convert, “It would create a lot of backlash from people who are very staunch in their beliefs,” stated Vanessa Almeida, a enterprise proprietor in Goa.
“She has to stick to her roots as much as possible,” Almeida stated. “That’s what the community has been hoping for.”
NCS has reached out to the vp and second woman’s workplaces.
Vance was fast to defend himself on social media in opposition to backlash, writing in the X post that the criticism wreaked “of anti-Christian bigotry.”
“She is not Christian and has no plans to convert,” Vance clarified, including that Usha Vance inspired him to “reengage” with his religion a few years in the past.
“But like many people in an interfaith marriage –– or any interfaith relationship –– I hope she may one day see things as I do,” he goes on to say. “Regardless, I’ll continue to love and support her and talk to her about faith and life and everything else, because she’s my wife.”
“This is completely in contrast to Vance’s previous comments that his wife’s Hindu upbringing and values inspired his own return to faith,” Priyanka Deo, US correspondent of Indian community NDTV, stated on Instagram, including that his newest remarks counsel acceptance in the United States is conditional and predicated upon turning into a Christian.
Vance, who transformed to Catholicism whereas already married, has stated his wife inspired him to discover his religion and that his household influenced him in the choice.
“I remember when I started to reengage with my own faith, Usha was very supportive,” Vance stated throughout an interview with Fox News in June 2024.
During the identical interview, Usha Vance stated she supported her husband’s resolution for a few causes, together with seeing the facility of her dad and mom’ religion. “That was one of the things that made them such good parents. That made them, really, very good people.”
“I knew that JD was searching for something. This just felt right for him,” she added.
Vance’s feedback come forward of the 2028 election. Trump, in August, steered Vance was “most likely” the inheritor obvious to the Make America Great Again movement –– the furthest he’s gone in backing Vance as a future presidential candidate.
Vance additionally instructed Fox News lately he plans to speak to Trump about probably operating after the 2026 midterm elections.
Ram Puniyani, a Mumbai-based author and critic of Hindu fundamentalism, stated he thinks Vance’s feedback trample on freedom of faith –– a vital tenant of any democratic society, be it the United States or India, which continues to be broadly thought to be the world’s largest democracy.
“I believe that America’s civic society had much more liberal attitudes earlier, but those attitudes are getting rigid, and this is not a healthy thing for the growth of democracy worldwide,” he added.
Usha Vance has not spoken out about her husband’s feedback, although some have jumped rapidly to her protection.
“No one has been harsher on JD Vance’s policy than I have,” wrote California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, who can also be Hindu, on X. “But his wife is an accomplished daughter of immigrants, and they have young kids. Attack on the policies. Leave his family out of it.”
In response to others who’ve known as Usha Vance a menace to the “MAGA base,” McCain, daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, stated the second woman was a “huge asset” to the Republican celebration, somebody who bridged celebration and political traces and “brought warmth” to the vp.
“She is among other things a modern mother and a style icon,” McCain wrote on X. “She’s personally my favorite person in the Trump administration.”