Despite her husband's wishes, Usha Vance has no plans to convert to Catholicism

JD and Usha Vance brought their children to India earlier this year.
They posed in front of the Taj Mahal.

Folks, the political theatre never stops, and the latest act features Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha. The topic? Her Hindu faith and his very public wish for her to convert to Catholicism. It's a story that highlights the delicate dance of faith, marriage, and the ever-present glare of the political spotlight.

Here’s the deal: JD Vance, 41, a man who converted to Catholicism after a period of atheism, recently spoke at a Christian-based Turning Point USA event and, in front of a large crowd, expressed his hope that his wife would one day be "moved by the same thing that I was moved in by church." He believes in the Christian gospel and wishes she would "see it the same way."

Seems personal, right? A husband sharing his deepest hopes for the person he loves. But when you're the Vice President, nothing is truly personal, especially when you're playing to a Christian conservative base that values overt displays of faith.
Usha Vance, born to Indian immigrant parents and raised Hindu, has her own perspective. She has made it clear in past interviews: "I'm not intending to convert or anything like that."

According to People Magazine, the Vances have three children: Ewan is 8 years old, Vivek is 5 years old, and Mirabel is 2 years old.

She supports her husband's journey, even attending church with him, but she is rooted in her own heritage, ensuring their three children are exposed to Hindu traditions an attend Catholic school. The kids know she's not Catholic, and they have access to Hindu books, traditions, and family visits to India.

This isn't a new conversation for the couple. They've had to navigate how to raise their children in an interfaith household, a "real conversation" they worked out together. In an interview, Usha Vance said that she and her husband have agreed that they will allow their children to choose their faith.

"Our eight-year-old did his first communion about a year ago,” said JD Vance. “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.”

The backlash againsst JD Vance's statement was swift, with critics, including the Hindu American Foundation, calling out the comments for possibly undervaluing Usha's faith and highlighting the "compulsion" some communities have to convert others. They noted Hinduism's pluralistic nature, which embraces multiple paths to the Divine.

Vance, in turn, defended his remarks, calling the criticism "anti-Christian bigotry" and affirming his wife is the "most amazing blessing" in his life. He framed it as a normal Christian desire to share one's faith with loved ones.

So, what are we to make of all this? Is it a private, heartfelt hope that got magnified by a public stage, or is it a calculated political signal to to appease the MAGA crowd that includes the influential Christian nationalists that demands whollehearted alignment, even within the most intimate parts of a politician's life?

It’s probably a bit of both. In today’s polarized climate, even a simple wish for one's spouse to join their faith gets dissected for its political implications.

Usha is a lawyer, a supportive partner, and a proud Hindu. JD is a Catholic convert who wants his family to share his spiritual home. They seem to have a working arrangement that respects both their faiths and their children's choices. The public drama, however, is a reminder that in American politics, the line between personal conviction and public performance is blurrier than ever.

JD and Usha Vance attend Good Friday mass at St. Peter's Cathedral at the Vatican.

Since JD Vance was named Vice President, Usha Vance, who was born and raised in San Diego, has been targeted by the extreme right. According to All In Together, between January 1st and August 11th, there were approximately 1,800 unique public posts and 16,000 public posts, replies, and shares on Twitter/X, Instagram, and TikTok containing racist and/or gendered attacks against Usha Vance with a possible reach of 216 million accounts.

"There is also a history of Christians denigrating Hindus, attempting to convert Hindus through sometimes unethical means. In recent months we’ve seen an outpouring of anti-Hindu sentiment online, often coming from explicitly Christian sources," says the Hindu American Foundation in their letter to JD Vance.

"Some of the most vocal voices in your base seem to not actually believe religious freedom, one of the core concepts this nation was founded upon, as you well know, should extend to Hindus," concluded the HAF statement.

In an attempt to clarify and soften his earlier statement, JD vance posted on social media: “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.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. 

Will Gabbard quit her campaign? 'Hell, no!'

After failing to qualify for the next Democratic debate Sept. 12, Tulsi Gabbard reassured her supporters at a town hall in Atlanta on Saturday that she isn't quitting the race for the party's nomination to run against Donald Trump in 2020.

"I started hearing from a lot of people in the media when they said, 'OK, you didn't make the third debate. Are you quitting?'" she said.

Much to the audience's delight, Gabbard then declared, "Hell, no!" Her resounding answer drew cheers from the crowd while she repeated, "Hell, no!"

Gabbard failed to qualify for the next Democratic debate later this month after making the first two debates. She reached the fundraising threshold, but did not meet the Democratic National Committee's polling minimum to qualify.

The Hawaii congresswoman claimed last week that there's "no explanation or transparency around why certain polls are qualifying while other very credible recognized polls are somehow not qualifying."

"Frankly, the DNC has not provided any transparency to voters about how they're making these decisions," Gabbard told CNN.

The DNC required that all polls be conducted by an approved pollster, released between June 28 and August 28, 2019, conducted nationally or in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and/or Nevada, and fit a certain question structure.

The Hindu American congresswoman, back on the campaign trail after 15 days of duty with the Hawaii National Guard, also said on Thursday (Aug. 29) she won't run as an independent if she doesn't win the Democratic presidential nomination.

"I've ruled that out,"abbard told CNN during a campaign stop in Iowa. 

"I'm going to continue to focus on moving our campaign forward, continuing this grassroots campaign, continuing to deliver our message to the American people."

Gabbard, a major in the Hawaii Army National Guard and the first female combat veteran to run for president, spent about six days in Indonesia and had other duties in Hawaii, with the annual training requirement ending Monday, said Hawaii National Guard spokesman Jeff Hickman.

"And so while some people are telling me, like, 'This is a terrible time to leave the campaign, can't you find a way out of it ?' that's not what this is about," she said.

"I love being able to serve our country in so many ways, including as a soldier," Gabbard said.

In a recent interview with CBS News, Gabbard, gained a reputation as an independent after quitting her position DNC vice chair in 2016 when she felt that DNC leadership was favoring Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders,  appeared to suggest that there's no circumstance in which she would not support the Democratic nominee.

"I am, as are all of the other candidates that I'm aware of running for president, committed to defeating Donald Trump in 2020. I look forward and hope to be able to earn that nomination myself, but if not, then I'll join with others in making sure that that happens," Gabbard said.

_______________________________________________________________

Tulsi Gabbard fends off accusations of Russian ties

SCREEN CAPTURE / ABC

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard on 'This Week.'

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-HI, a Hindu American running for the Democrat's 2020 presidential nomination, on Sunday (May 19) called a report that her campaign is being backed by prominent Russian sympathizers "fake news."

Speaking to ABC's George Stephanopoulos on "This Week," Gabbard said: "It's unfortunate you're citing that article, George, because it's a whole lot of fake news,” Gabbard responded. “What's in the best interest of national security? Keeping American people safe.”

"And what I'm pointing out consistently, time and time again, is our continued wasteful regime change wars have been counterproductive to the interests of the American people.”

The Daily Beast, a left-leaning news organ, reported last week that Gabbard has received donations to her 2020 campaign from supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin, including a Russian studies professor and an employee of the Russian broadcaster RT.

The Daily Beast report was ridiculed by commentators on Twitter. Independent journalist Ben Norton called the Daily Beast’s article “embarrassingly bad,”while The Hill’s Krystal Ball blasted the Daily Beast's reporters for searching through 65,000 donors to find “3 with views that fit their pre-conceived narrative.”

In a crowded field of 24 Democratic candidates. Gabbard is polling around 1%. She ranks lower than Asian American nonpolitician, business entrepreneur Andrew Yang and far below Sen. Kamala Harris, the other two AAPI candidates. Former Vice President Joe Biden leads the field. 

As the mainstream media continues to fixate on her supposed sympathies for the Kremlin, the Hawaiian has remained steadfast on her foreign policy proposals, emphasizing cooperation rather than conflict for the sake of regime change. On Thursday, Gabbard warned Donald Trump against “launching a very stupid and costly war with Iran,” and called out “war hawks in his administration” like National Security Advisor John Bolton, for leading the U.S. towards another conflict in the Middle East.

Since Gabbard, an Iraqui war veteran, declared her candidacy, the Hawaiian congressmember has been roundly criticized for her refusal to call Syrian President Bashar Assad an adversary of the United States — a position seemingly more aligned with Russia's stance than that of the United States.

"This is what I seek to change; to build relationships that are built on cooperation rather than conflict, deescalate these tensions, work out the differences that we have, the problems that we have with other countries and also recognize that in examples like denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. We’ve got to be able to work with countries like Russia and China to be able to accomplish that objective to keep the American people safe," she continued on This Week.
"What I am focused on is what is in the best interest of the American people, what is in the best interest of our national security, keeping the American people safe," Gabbard told Stephanopoulis.

________________________________________________________________________

RIP: Meena Alexander, poet, essayist, professor of life

SCREEN CAPTURE / YOUTUBE

MEENA ALEXANDER, 1952-2018

ASAM NEWS

FAMILY, FRIENDS AND FANS are mourning the passing of a distinguished award-winning Indian American poet and essayist.
The Wire reports Meena Alexander died Tuesday in New York at the age of 67.

Her work included Atmospheric Embroidery, Birthplace with Buried Stones, Quickly Changing River, Raw Silk, and Illiterate Heart, which won the 2002 PEN Open Book Award.

She was born in India, later raised in Sudan and has lived in New York since 1979.

“Lacking just one single place to call home and shorn of the hold of one language I could take to be mine and mine alone, I felt stranded in the multiplicity that marked my life, its rich coruscating depths only forcing me—or so I felt—into grave danger,” she wrote in her essay Poetry: The Question of Home.

Scroll reports she also won the 2009 Distinguished Achievement Award in Literature from the South Asian Literary Association.

The Asian American Writers Workshop paid tribute to Alexander after hearing of her death.

According to Onmanorama, Alexander worked as a Distinguished Professor of English and Women’s Studies at New York City University and also an English teacher at Hunter College in New York City.

She spoke multiple languages-French, English, Sudanese Arabic and Hindi.

“It took me quite a while to realize that I did not have to feel strung out and lost in the swarm of multilingual syllables – rather, that the hive of language could allow me to make a strange and sweet honey, the pickings of dislocation,” she once told Wire.

She is survived by her husband, David Lelyveld and two children, Adam Kuruvilla and Svati Mariam.

_________________________________________________________________________________