USA

JD Vance Defends Interfaith Marriage After Stating He Hopes Wife Will "One Day" Embrace Christianity

Michael Ringer

01 Nov 2025 — 3 min read

Oxford, Mississippi - U.S. Vice President JD Vance faced backlash after stating at a Turning Point USA event at the University of Mississippi on October 29, 2025, that he hopes his wife Usha, who was raised Hindu, will "one day" share his Christian Catholic faith. He later clarified on October 31 that he respects her decision and that she has no plans to convert.

During the event, a South Asian woman wearing a bindi questioned Vance about his interfaith household, asking: "You are raising three kids in an intercultural, racial, religious household. How are you maintaining or how are you teaching your kids not to keep your religion ahead of their mother's religion? How are you balancing that?"

Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, responded: "Yes, 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 explained that when they met at Yale Law School, both were "agnostic or atheist."

"For us, it works out now most Sundays, Usha will come with me to church, as I've told her, and I've said publicly, and 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 in by church? Yeah, I 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. But if she doesn't, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn't cause a problem for me," Vance said.

He further explained: "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've decided to raise our kids Christian. Our two oldest children, who attend school, attend a Christian school. Our 8-year-old had his First Communion about a year ago. That's the way that we have come to our arrangement."

The comments sparked sharp criticism online. One widely circulated social media post, which has since been deleted, stated: "It's weird to throw your wife's religion under the bus, in public, for a moment's acceptance by groypers."

Ajay Jain Bhutoria, an Indian American and adviser to former President Joe Biden, wrote: "JD Vance publicly casts his wife Usha's Hindu faith as a problem to be fixed, a soul to 'move' to Christianity."

Former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal criticized Vance for avoiding openly identifying his wife as Hindu, instead calling her "agnostic," suggesting this reflected discomfort or reluctance to acknowledge her religious background publicly.

Other critics, including some Hindu Americans, accused Vance of being a "hypocrite," pointing to previous interviews where Usha described growing up in a "religious household" and said her faith inspired Vance to explore his own.

On October 31, Vance responded on X (formerly Twitter), calling the criticism "disgusting" and an example of "anti-Christian bigotry."

"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," Vance wrote.

"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."