Faith, Karma, and Coming Home
This week, we begin with a story that has stirred both devotion and debate: US Vice President JD Vance’s comments about his Hindu wife’s “non-religious” upbringing — remarks that have upset Indian Americans and reignited questions about faith, identity, and ambition in MAGA America.
Meanwhile, an Indian Redditor living in the US reminds us that connection sometimes matters more than comfort, and our Offbeat section asks a timeless question — does karma really exist?
Let’s go.
THE BIG STORY
The Vice President’s comments about his Hindu wife’s “non-religious” upbringing spark outrage among Indian Americans and highlight a growing evangelical turn in US conservatism.
Driving the news:
At a recent Turning Point USA event in Mississippi, US Vice President JD Vance told a cheering crowd that his wife, Usha, “did not grow up Christian,” adding that he hoped she might “one day be moved by the same thing that moved me in church.” For a politician who once credited his Hindu wife for helping him rediscover faith, the remarks landed like a thunderclap — recasting a pluralistic marriage into a conversion narrative.
Why it matters:
Vance’s comments signal a deeper shift in the Republican landscape — where faith isn’t just personal, it’s performative. Once the reflective author of Hillbilly Elegy and a Catholic convert inspired by his Hindu spouse, Vance has now aligned himself with the evangelical right’s demand for visible piety. The result: Usha’s Hindu identity, once celebrated as part of America’s interfaith fabric, is being publicly diminished to fit MAGA’s Christian mould.
The big picture:
- The political baptism: Vance’s 2019 conversion to Catholicism was deeply personal. But since joining Trump’s ticket, faith has become campaign currency. His “hope” for his wife’s conversion sounded less devotional and more strategic.
- Backlash from the diaspora: Indian Americans, including Hindu conservatives once sympathetic to Trump, denounced Vance’s remarks as erasure. “Usha Vance isn’t an agnostic. JD Vance was,” one viral post said.
- Interfaith optics: The couple’s 2014 wedding blended Vedic rituals and church hymns — a symbol of pluralism that once charmed both liberals and conservatives. Now, it’s being rewritten to serve a singular faith narrative.
- Faith as identity politics: In the new GOP, belief is a badge. Vance’s rhetorical shift mirrors a broader evangelical realignment where tolerance is framed as pre-conversion potential.
- The ambition behind it: Vance’s reversals — from criticising Trump as “America’s Hitler” to becoming his running mate — show a pattern: faith, politics, even conspiracy theories bend to ambition.
What began as a love story that bridged Ohio and Om now reflects the collapse of spiritual coexistence under the weight of culture wars. Usha’s Hinduism once humanised her husband’s search for meaning; today, it’s being rewritten as something to be redeemed.
Read article.
NRI WATCH
‘Indian Redditor says life in India feels “more real”
A 37-year-old Indian Redditor has gone viral after posting a heartfelt reflection comparing life in the United States with India — and choosing India for its “messy but real” sense of community. Writing amid growing H-1B visa uncertainty, the user said the US had offered comfort and opportunity, but lacked connection.
“In India, you just step outside and something’s happening. You talk to people, bump into friends, feel part of a community,” the post read. “Even buying vegetables feels social. My parents are there, people show up for each other, and you never feel like you’re living life in isolation.”
The Redditor, who has lived in the US for over a decade, added that many friends seem content chasing “the next upgrade” — the new car, the lake house, the consumer dream — but that it “doesn’t connect with my idea of living.”
Read article.
OFFBEAT
Everyone in this world is experiencing the results of one’s own karmas (past deeds). And it generally happens that while experiencing the effect of our past life’s karma, we simultaneously bind new karma for our next life. This binding of new karma happens based on what our deep inner intent is. If it is that of vengeance, we bind demerit karmas which shall result in actions of revenge in the next birth. And if our inner intent is that of forgiveness, we bind merit karmas, the result of which shall be in the form of peace and amicability. In this manner, we trap ourselves in the cycle of birth and rebirth.
Read article.
IN THE NEWS
Indian-origin MAGA activist backs JD Vance’s remark on Usha’s faith
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Indian truck driver caught with 77 kg cocaine at US-Canada border
Indian passenger stabs teens, slaps woman on Boston flight
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Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
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