NEW YORK — U.S. Vice President JD Vance said he hopes his wife, Usha, who is Hindu, may one day embrace Christianity, but emphasized that her choice will never be an issue in their marriage, citing his belief in personal free will.
Speaking Wednesday at a Turning Point movement rally in Oxford, Mississippi, Vance responded to a question from a woman of Indian origin about his family’s interfaith relationship. “Do I hope eventually that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved by church? Yeah, I honestly do wish that,” Vance said. “Because I believe in the Christian gospel, and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way. But if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn’t cause a problem for me.”
Vance described how he and his wife, whom he met while studying at Yale University, have navigated their differing faiths through open conversation and mutual respect. “Everybody has to come to their own arrangement here,” he said. “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 added, “The only advice I can give is you just got to talk to the person that God has put you with, and you’ve got to make those decisions as a family unit.”
Vance said that when they met, he identified as “agnostic or atheist,” while Usha “grew up in a Hindu family, but not a particularly religious one.” He said he later returned to his Christian roots and converted to Catholicism three years ago, describing himself as a devoted follower of the Church.
Addressing some criticism from fundamentalist groups over his faith and interreligious marriage, Vance said that Usha often joins him and their children at church. “Usha is closer to the priests who baptized me than maybe I am,” he said. “They talk about this stuff.”
Turning to religious freedom, Vance said that Christianity’s core principle of free will naturally supports the right to choose one’s faith. “One of the most important Christian principles is that you respect free will,” he said. He added that recent efforts by Republican leaders to allow public prayers and Christian discussions in schools do not violate the Constitution, as they do not impose religious practice but rather recognize faith’s place in public life.
Turning Point, the conservative Christian organization that hosted the event, was founded by activist Charles Kirk, who was assassinated last month. (Source: IANS)
