Vice President JD Vance publicly expressed his hope that his wife Usha—raised Hindu and currently identifying as such—will eventually convert to Christianity, remarks that have sparked criticism from civil rights advocates, Indian commentators, and observers who note the statements contradict what Usha herself has said about her religious intentions.
Speaking at a Turning Point USA event at the University of Mississippi on Wednesday, October 29, Vance told an audience of approximately 10,000 that while he respects his wife’s free will, he hopes she will ultimately embrace his Catholic faith.
“Now, most Sundays, Usha will come with me to church. As I’ve told her, and as I’ve said publicly, and as 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 by in 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,” Vance said, according to news reports.
A Question About Interfaith Marriage
The remarks came in response to a question from a South Asian woman in the audience about how the vice president manages an interfaith, interracial household. According to The New Republic, the questioner asked: “You are married to a woman who is not Christian.… She still calls herself Hindu. You are raising three kids in interracial, cultural, racial religious household. How are you maintaining, how are you teaching your kids not to keep your religion ahead of their mother’s religion?”
Vance responded by characterizing both himself and Usha as having been non-religious when they met at Yale Law School in 2010. “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 said. He added that when they first met, he considered himself “agnostic or atheist” and suggested “that’s what I think she would have considered herself as well,” according to The List.
However, Vance acknowledged that “most Sundays, Usha will come with me to church,” and that their three children—Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel—are being raised Catholic, attending Christian school, with their eldest having completed his first communion about a year ago.
The Caveat: Free Will
Vance tempered his expressed desire for his wife’s conversion by invoking the Christian concept of free will. “But if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn’t cause a problem for me. That’s something you work out with your friends, with your family, with the person that you love,” he said.
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He emphasized that the couple has found their own arrangement: “Everybody has to come to their own arrangement here. The way that we’ve come to our arrangement is that she’s my best friend. We talk to each other about this stuff. We’ve decided to raise our kids Christian,” Vance explained.
The Contradiction: What Usha Has Said
Vance’s public expression of hope for his wife’s conversion directly contradicts statements Usha Vance made just four months earlier. In June 2025, Usha appeared on Meghan McCain’s podcast “Citizen McCain,” where she discussed her family’s religious dynamics.
Usha emphasized that while the children are being raised Catholic, “It is a part of their lives” to be exposed to her family’s Hindu faith as well.
According to The List, McCain introduced Usha as “a Hindu mom raising Catholic kids,” and Usha explained: “When I met JD, he wasn’t Catholic, and he converted later.” Discussing how they decided to raise their children, she said: “We had to have a lot of real conversations about how do you do that, when I’m not Catholic, and I’m not intending to convert or anything like that.”
Usha emphasized that while the children are being raised Catholic, “It is a part of their lives” to be exposed to her family’s Hindu faith as well.
The Daily Guardian reported that Usha told McCain’s podcast: “So what we’ve ended up doing is we send our kids to Catholic school, and we have given them each the choice, right? They can choose whether they want to be baptized Catholic and then go through the whole step-by-step process with their classes in school.”
The contrast between Vance’s current public statements and his past remarks has also drawn attention. In a 2024 interview with the New York Post, according to The List, Vance said: “I feel terrible for my wife, because we go to church almost every Sunday. … I feel kind of bad, because you didn’t sign up to marry a weekly churchgoer.”
That apologetic tone—acknowledging his wife hadn’t “signed up” for his religious practice—stands in stark contrast to his recent public declaration that he hopes she will eventually share his faith.
Backlash and Criticism
The remarks drew swift criticism from multiple quarters. The Daily Beast reported that Vance faced accusations of “hypocrisy and ‘Hindu-phobia’” for his comments.
Kanwal Sibal, former Indian Foreign Secretary and ambassador to Turkey, Egypt, France and Russia, wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “He calls her agnostic. Afraid to admit her Hindu origin. Where has all this talk of religious freedom gone? They have this Congressionally mandated U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Charity should begin at home,” according to The Daily Beast.
Professor Audrey Truschke, a historian of South Asia at Rutgers University, wrote on X: “Watch as Vance denies his wife’s religious identity as Hindu. Instead, he labels her as currently without a religion and a future Christian. Folks, believe the far-right when they say Christian is the only legitimate religious identity. They mean it,” according to The New Republic.
Indian author Monica Verma observed: “When JD Vance had hit his lowest, it was his ‘Hindu’ wife and her Hindu upbringing that had helped him navigate through the tough times. Today in a position of power, her religion has become a liability,” The New Republic reported.
Austin-based tech executive Deep Barot responded to news of Vance’s comments with a “laugh out loud” emoji, according to The Daily Beast.
Religious Background and Conversion
Vance converted to Catholicism in August 2019, shortly after the birth of his first child, according to Newsweek and the National Catholic Register. He has cited the influence of family, personal reflection, and philosophical readings during his time at Yale Law School as instrumental in his conversion.
Usha Vance, née Chilukuri, is an attorney who grew up in San Diego, California with Indian immigrant parents. She was raised in a Hindu household with a strong focus on education. The couple married in 2014 in an interfaith ceremony that included both a Hindu pandit and a Christian officiant.
According to The Daily Guardian, Usha has spoken about the positive influence of her Hindu upbringing. She told Fox News: “My parents are Hindu. That made them very good people. I’ve seen the power of that in my own life.”
The Family Dynamic
Despite the religious differences, Vance has consistently praised his wife’s influence on him. On The Megyn Kelly Show podcast in 2020, according to Newsweek, Vance said: “Usha definitely brings me back to earth a little bit, and if I maybe get a little bit too cocky or a little too proud, I just remind myself that she is way more accomplished than I am.”
He added: “I’m one of those guys who really benefits from having, like, a sort of powerful female voice on his left shoulder saying: ‘Don’t do that, do do that’—it just is important.”
Vance has also credited Usha with encouraging him to explore Christianity. According to Newsweek, he told an interviewer: “Usha’s closer to the priest who baptized 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.”
Hindu Phobia
For Hindu American advocacy groups already concerned about rising anti-Hindu sentiment—evidenced by temple vandalizations, the recent masked protests in Texas targeting Diwali celebrations, and various incidents of Hindu students feeling targeted on college campuses—Vance’s comments from the second-highest office in the land carry particular weight.
The vice president of the United States publicly expressing hope that his Hindu wife will abandon her ancestral religion sends a message about the acceptability and legitimacy of Hindu identity in America, critics argue.
For Vance’s defenders, his comments represent honest expression of his religious beliefs and his hope that the person he loves most will share what he considers to be salvific truth. They point to his acknowledgment of free will and his emphasis on mutual respect as evidence that he’s not pressuring his wife.
Perhaps most significantly, Usha Vance herself has not publicly commented on her husband’s remarks. Given that she explicitly told Meghan McCain in June that she was “not intending to convert or anything like that,” her response—or lack thereof—to her husband’s public expression of hope for her conversion will be closely watched.
This story was aggregated by AI from several news reports and edited by American Kahani’s News Desk.
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