JD Vance credits wife Usha Vance for role in his return to Christianity
Washington, June 22 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) US Vice President JD Vance has credited his Indian American wife, Usha Vance, with helping shape his return to Christianity, saying her support in their interfaith marriage and her influence on his understanding of love, family and commitment played a crucial role in his spiritual journey.
In a candid interview with New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, Vance said his relationship with Usha transformed not only his personal life but also the way he viewed faith after years of atheism and spiritual uncertainty.
“I had this epiphany — which is overstating it — but I realised that falling in love with Usha made me realise that there was actually something sacramental to love,” Vance said.
The remarks came as Vance discussed his new memoir, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, which traces his journey from a turbulent childhood and eventual loss of faith to his conversion to Catholicism.
Vance said his early connection to Christianity weakened after the death of his grandmother, whom he described as the anchor of his religious life.
“When my grandma died, that was my anchor to Christianity,” he said. “It’s really no coincidence that my grandma died and, like, two years later, I called myself an atheist.”
For years, he drifted away from religion. He immersed himself in education, professional ambition and personal achievement. Looking back, he said those pursuits ultimately left him unfulfilled.
“The thing I realised is that this kind of striving had made me pretty hollow,” he said.
The turning point, he suggested, came through relationships rather than theology.
Vance spoke extensively about Usha, whom he married before entering national politics. Although she does not share his Christian faith, he said her support became an important factor in his decision to return to religion.
“I felt kind of guilty, actually, about returning to my faith with all the demands that come with me,” he said.
He described the realities of raising a family while practising his faith, noting that his wife embraced responsibilities she had never expected.
“I think about this every single Sunday when I take my 36-week-pregnant wife, who is herself not a Christian, and us and our three kids, and they’re late getting their shoes on, and they’re always misbehaved,” Vance said.
“She did not sign up for this. She signed up to sleep in on Sundays and not have to deal with this.”
Yet, he said, her response never wavered.
“But she does it with incredible patience, and her being not just OK with that but supportive of that journey was like almost confirmation or a sign that it was OK for me to go down this pathway.”
According to Vance, Usha fundamentally changed his understanding of marriage and relationships.
“The thing about relationships, and I think all millennials experience this, because we all grew up in the same culture, is there was this sense in which there was nothing sacred about romance,” he said.
That changed when he fell in love.
“Usha, even though she’s not a Christian, she really changed how I thought about the union of man and woman together, and she changed how I thought about it. Without even realising it, I thought about it in a very, very Christian way.”
Vance also credited Christian friends and families for helping guide him back to faith. Many of the people he most admired, he said, were Christians whose lives reflected values he increasingly wanted to emulate.
“At some basic level, I had some really good friends who were really good people, and they showed me the truth of faith by the way that they conducted themselves in the world,” he said.
Now 41, Vance said becoming a husband and father forced him to confront deeper questions about meaning, responsibility and purpose. Those questions eventually led him back to Christianity.
Usha Vance, a lawyer and the daughter of Indian immigrants, has emerged as one of the most prominent Indian American figures in US public life since her husband’s rise from senator to vice president. While largely remaining outside day-to-day political debates, she has become a familiar presence on the national stage.
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