Vance Speaks At TPUSA Event
At the University of Mississippi, in front of a packed Turning Point USA crowd gathered to honor the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Vice President JD Vance delivered a speech that was at once deeply personal and unmistakably political.
With the memory of his friend and the momentum of a movement behind him, Vance did what few in public life dare to do so openly—he made faith not just a talking point, but a central argument for the kind of country he believes America must become.
Vance’s remarks were framed around the legacy of Kirk, whose widow Erika opened the evening with a moving tribute. But it was Vance who carried the emotional weight of the evening into the realm of public conviction. He spoke of Kirk’s influence on his own spiritual journey, crediting his late friend with inspiring him to be more vocal about his faith. And from there, he launched into a vision for the nation rooted unapologetically in Christian moral philosophy.
“I make no apologies for thinking that Christian values are an important foundation of this country,” Vance said plainly. It was a line that earned cheers—not merely for its boldness, but for the sincerity with which it was delivered.
In an era when many politicians couch religious references in vague platitudes, Vance chose clarity. His point was not just that faith belongs in the public square, but that its absence has created a moral vacuum that modern liberalism has failed to fill.
His criticism of what he called a “perverted version of Christianity” was one of the night’s most searing moments. Vance acknowledged the liberal emphasis on compassion for the marginalized but warned of a distortion that occurs when civic virtue and religious duty are stripped away from that impulse. “You can’t just have compassion for the criminal. You also have to have justice,” he said—arguing that only a Christian moral order can adequately balance both.
But Vance’s speech didn’t stop at philosophical declarations. He tackled the constitutional argument head-on, challenging the common interpretation of the Establishment Clause.
“Anybody who tells you it’s required by the Constitution is lying to you,” he said, criticizing the Supreme Court’s decades-old jurisprudence that effectively barred religion from public institutions. “We’re still paying for the consequences of it today,” he added, positioning himself among those seeking a legal and cultural reversal.
When asked about his own interfaith marriage—his wife Usha is Hindu—Vance’s answer was both earnest and revealing. He explained how he wasn’t a Christian when they met, but that together they chose to raise their children in the Christian faith. “Do I hope eventually that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved in by church? Yeah, I honestly do,” he said, adding that mutual respect and free will are foundational not only to his marriage, but to his theology.