Vice President JD Vance publicly addressed the interfaith marriage to his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance, in a refreshingly honest and human approach to the topic. While Vance makes no apologies about his religion or politics, nor hide his views on them in his public life, his reflection on marrying a woman and raising kids while sharing a different faith could be advice applied to anyone.
For context, the vice president’s remarks came on the heels of a self-described Indian woman trying to play ‘gotcha’ with him, as many on the political left – and indeed many on the right as well – have tried using his marriage to a foreign, non-Christian woman as some kind of hypocritical example of his America First views on immigration and the need for immigration reform.
Taking the question and deftly turning it into a powerful lesson on marriage and communication, the vice president briefly addressed how yesterday’s immigration policies don’t need to and shouldn’t be applied to today’s immigration policies before transitioning to his response on his interfaith marriage.
He first acknowledged that Usha did not grow up Christian, going so far to say that when they met he wasn’t even particularly Christian himself. “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. In fact, when I met my wife, we were both – I would consider myself an agnostic or an atheist – and that’s what I think she would have considered herself as well,” he began in his response.
Vance then tackled the issue of navigating interfaith marriage specifically, saying he’s been blessed with being able to talk about it with her. “Everybody has to come to their own arrangement here,” he continued. “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. Our two oldest kids who go to school, they go to a Christian school. Our eight year old did his first communion about a year ago. That’s the way that we have come to our arrangement.”
Stepping back from how his own marriage operates on honesty and communication, he then applied some general life lessons for everyone including the liberal student whose question prompted the vice president’s reply. “But I think everybody has to have…own conversation when you’re in a marriage. I mean, it’s true for friends of mine who are in Protestant and Catholic marriages, friends of mine who are in, you know, atheist and Christian marriages, you just got to talk.”
Vance concluded his remarks by pointing out each relationship is different and that only through conversation can you figure out what works best for you. “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.”
“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… 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.”
Ending his off-the-cuff remarks and marriage and faith, Vance once again stressed he trusted God’s plan for him, even going so far as to reiterate he hoped his wife, through he regular church attendance, would also one day come to accept Christ as her Savior.
“That’s something you work out with your friends, with your family, with the person that you love. Again, the most one of the most important Christian principles is that you respect free will. Usha is closer to the priests who baptize me than maybe I am. They talk about this stuff. My attitude is you figure this stuff out as a family, and you trust in God to have a plan, and you try to follow it as best as you can. And that’s what I try to do.”
Featured image: Screen shot from embedded video