Hoping that his wife Usha Vance will one day embrace Christian faith, US Vice President JD Vance on Friday addressed criticism over his comments on his interfaith marriage with his Hindu wife, stating that she has no plans to convert, and he respects her decision.
Responding to Ezra Levant, a journalist and publisher of Rebel News, Canada, Vance stressed that his marriage is built on mutual respect, trust, and communication, despite their differing faiths.
She had hit out at Vance for expressing his hope that his wife would convert to Christianity, calling it “disgusting” and accusing him of being insensitive to her Hindu faith.
Levant had posed on X, “It’s weird to throw your wife’s religion under the bus, in public, for a moment’s acceptance by groypers.”
The US VP credited his wife, Usha, with encouraging him to re-engage with his faith, which has become an integral part of his life and assured that he wouldn’t pressure his wife to convert, acknowledging that faith is a personal journey and a matter of “God-given free will”.
In a post on X, he said, “What a disgusting comment, and it’s hardly been the only one along these lines. First off, the question was from a person seemingly to my left, about my interfaith marriage. I’m a public figure, and people are curious, and I wasn’t going to avoid the question. Second, my Christian faith tells me the Gospel is true and is good for human beings. My wife–as I said at the TPUSA–is the most amazing blessing I have in my life. She herself encouraged me to reengage with my faith many years ago. She is not a Christian and has no plans to convert, but like many people in an interfaith marriage–or any interfaith relationship–I hope she may one day see things as I do. 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. Third, posts like this wreak of anti-Christian bigotry. Yes, Christians have beliefs. And yes, those beliefs have many consequences, one of which is that we want to share them with other people. That is a completely normal thing, and anyone who’s telling you otherwise has an agenda.”
The couple has decided to raise their three children in the Christian faith, with Usha supporting this decision.
While addressing the Turning Point USA Event in Mississippi on Wednesday, Vance was asked whether he hopes his wife will eventually “come to Christ”. He candidly expressed his hope that his Hindu-raised wife, Usha Vance, would one day embrace Christianity, while affirming her free will and their mutual respect in an interfaith marriage, during an address at the Turning Point USA Event in Mississippi on Wednesday.
He said, “Now, most Sundays, Usha will come with me to church. As I’ve told her, and as I’ve said publicly, and as 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.”
He added, however, that faith is deeply personal and that differences in belief do not create conflict in their marriage.”But if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn’t cause a problem for me. That’s something you work out with your friends, with your family, with the person that you love,” Vance said.
The Vice President, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, described Usha’s background, stating, “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 further explained that the couple has found a balanced way to manage their interfaith household.
(With ANI Inputs)
