Vance Stands By Conversion Remark; Wife Usha Confirms ‘No Plans To Convert’

WASHINGTON, DC – Vice President JD Vance defended his earlier statement expressing hope that his wife, Usha Vance, who is Hindu, would become a Christian like him, noting that she had “encouraged” him to “re-engage” with his faith many years ago.

Vance explained that while his wife has “no plans to convert,” he hoped she “may one day see things as I do.”

“My Christian faith tells me the Gospel is true and is good for human beings,” Vance wrote. “My wife… is the most amazing blessing I have in my life. She herself encouraged me to re-engage 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.”

Vance’s defense followed his response to an audience question at a Turning Point USA rally in Oxford, Mississippi, on October 26, where he said he believed in the Christian Gospel and hoped his wife eventually “comes to see it the same way.” He also asserted that Usha Vance “grew up in a Hindu family, but not a particularly religious family in either direction,” and that she comes to church on Sundays with the rest of the family, with them raising their children as Christians. Vance added that Usha “is closer to the priests who baptized me than maybe I am.”

The Vice President’s wife, Usha Vance, had previously ruled out religious conversion for herself during an interview with Meghan McCain in June. “I’m not Catholic, and I’m not intending to convert or anything like that,” she said. She added that their children had access to both faiths and a choice in their faith. “We send our kids to Catholic school, and we had given them each the choice. They can choose whether they want to be baptized Catholic, and then go through the whole step-by-step process… so far, our oldest child has done that. We’ll see what our second child does.”

Usha Vance revealed that the children “have plenty of access to the Hindu tradition, from books that we give them to things that we show them to the visit recently to India and some of the religious elements of that visit. So, it is a part of their lives, and they know many practicing Hindus as a part of their lives.” (IANS)