Vice president JD Vance once again stirred a row after asserting at the Turning Point USA AmericaFest event that the United States is and always will be a Christian nation.
Speaking to the mostly Republican crowd, Vance said, “The only thing that is truly served as an anchor of the United States of America is that we have been, and by the grace of God, we always will be, a Christian nation.” The MAGA audience responded with loud applause and cheers.
The remarks come after Vance said in October that he hopes his wife, Usha Vance, who was raised in a Hindu family may convert into Christianity. Speaking at one older Turning Point USA event, Vance said he hopes she may one day embrace Christianity, but said that faith must be freely chosen. He had said: “Now most Sundays Usha will come with me to church… Do I hope, eventually, that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved in by 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.”
These comments had ignited a firestorm within the MAGA base and divided conservatives on how a White nationalist Christian leader can have a Brown Hindu and Indian wife.
Democrats, progressives, and American Hindu groups condemned the statements and said they were insensitive to Usha’s religious identity and showed elements of forceful Christian nationalist rhetoric. Hindu American Foundation said that sharing faith in a marriage should be mutual rather than one-sided.
Vance shut down the false rumours and responded on social media that Usha has "no plans to convert." He called the backlash “disgusting” and described it as anti-Christian bigotry. He said that he loves his wife, Usha, and reiterated that he respects her beliefs.
Vance has openly discussed how Usha supported him when he returned to faith, as both were once agnostic before he converted to Catholicism in 2019. He has credited her and her Indian-origin family’s values with influencing his spiritual journey.
However, the comments were not appreciated on social media when users pointed out the irony of how a GOP leader can preach about a Christian nation while having a Hindu wife.
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