Vice President JD Vance told a packed college arena that he hopes his Hindu wife will one day convert to Christianity — a remark that has drawn backlash and reignited debate over faith and interfaith marriage.
According to The Associated Press, Vance, who converted to Catholicism five years into his marriage with Usha Chilukuri Vance, shared his comments during a Turning Point USA event at the University of Mississippi. When asked how the couple raises their children given their different religions, he replied:
“Do I hope that eventually she is somehow moved by what I was moved by in church? Yeah, honestly, I do wish that, because I believe in the Christian Gospel, and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way,” Vance said. “But if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn’t cause a problem for me.”
His remarks drew criticism from the Hindu American Foundation, which said in a statement that the comments reflected “a belief that there is only one true path to salvation — a concept that Hinduism simply doesn’t have.”
Vance responded to a critic online who accused him of disrespecting his wife’s religion, calling the accusation “disgusting.” He wrote that his wife is “the most amazing blessing” in his life and that she encouraged him to reconnect with his faith.
“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,” Vance said in his post. “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.”
At the event, Vance said he and his wife decided to raise their children as Christian, sending them to a Christian school and celebrating sacraments such as their oldest son’s First Communion.
Vance met his wife at Yale Law School when they were both atheist or agnostic. She grew up in a Hindu immigrant family and incorporated Hindu rites into their 2014 wedding ceremony. Vance became Catholic in 2019.
Experts say respect and honesty are essential for interfaith marriages to thrive. “To respect your partner and everything they bring to the marriage — every part of their identity — is integral to the kind of honesty that you need to have in a marriage,” said Susan Katz Miller, author of Being Both: Embracing Two Religions in One Interfaith Family.
