JD Vance defends comments on wife’s Hindu faith

US Vice President JD Vance has defended remarks about his wife’s Hindu background after saying he hopes she will one day convert to Christianity.
Speaking at a Turning Point USA event at the University of Mississippi, Vance told students that while his wife Usha “did not grow up Christian”, the couple had agreed to raise their three children in the Catholic faith.
“Our two oldest kids go to Christian school. Our eight-year-old did his first communion about a year ago,” he said. “Do I hope eventually that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved by in church? Yes. But if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn’t cause a problem for me.”
His comments prompted criticism from some interfaith advocates and Hindu groups. Suhag Shukla of the Hindu American Foundation told
Vance, 41, a Catholic convert who was baptised in 2019, responded that his views were consistent with both his personal faith and his duties as vice president. “Christians have …