As Republican Ohio Senator JD Vance and his Democratic opponent, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, compete for the vice presidency ahead of the November election, they bring distinct religious backgrounds — and distinct approaches to the role of faith in public life.
Vance, a Catholic, has spoken and written extensively about his personal experience of faith. Raised Protestant, including a period of attending a Pentecostal church as a teenager, the venture-capitalist-turned-senator spent much of his adulthood as an atheist before converting to Catholicism in 2019. In an interview with conservative writer Rod Dreher, Vance shared that the writings of St. Augustine featured prominently in his decision to convert: “Augustine gave me a way to understand Christian faith in a strongly intellectual way.”
Vance has also discussed how his faith informs his politics. In a 2020 essay about his conversion, he wrote about feeling dissatisfied with both the Left and the Right’s responses to poverty; in Catholicism, he found a worldview that was “sympathetic with the meek and poor of the world without treating them primarily as victims.” During his 2022 Senate campaign, he claimed to be the only candidate in the race “whose values actually align with the Christian teachings on the protection of life, on the protection of the vulnerable, on the dignity of the individual worker.”
As a vice-presidential candidate, Vance’s calls for the deportation of all undocumented immigrants contrast with the position of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which calls for a pathway to citizenship.
Vance’s ‘post-liberal’ faith
Since his conversion, Vance has become connected with the post-liberal movement and “Catholic integralism,” both of which are gaining traction among some in the Catholic Right. Post-liberals reject liberalism’s emphasis on individual freedoms and free market economics, favoring instead a strong government and social conservatism, according to the Associated Press.
Last year, Vance appeared on a panel alongside Patrick Deneen, a Notre Dame political theorist at the helm of the movement, to celebrate the release of Deneen’s book, Regime Change: Toward a Postliberal Future. The book argues that liberal elites must be replaced with conservative elites allied with the working class. Vance also wrote the foreword to Heritage Foundation president and fellow Catholic Kevin Roberts’ forthcoming book, which similarly targets liberal elites.
Vance would be the country’s second Catholic vice president if elected, after President Joe Biden, who served as vice president from 2009-2017.
Walz, self-identified ‘Minnesota Lutheran’
Walz, who has spoken about being Lutheran, is less open than Vance about his faith as a personal experience. Raised Catholic, the governor attends a St. Paul church belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, according to the Associated Press. With about 3 million baptized members, the ELCA is the largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S. and leans left on many social issues, favoring LGBTQ+ inclusion. The ELCA was the first Mainline U.S. denomination to ordain a transgender bishop, though the bishop later resigned after they were accused of racism.
The governor has joked about being a “Minnesota Lutheran,” treating the identity as both cultural and religious, according to Deseret News. About one in five Minnesotans are Lutheran, according to the Pew Research Center.
Walz has a complicated relationship with faith groups in his own state. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, he partnered with religious leaders from various traditions to encourage protesters to demonstrate peacefully. Billy Charvez Russell, the pastor of a Missionary Baptist church in Minneapolis, previously told Sojourners that he and other faith leaders felt like the Walz administration’s engagement with them was “authentic and genuine.” But the governor’s policies on LGBTQ+ issues, abortion, and COVID-19 have upset many conservative Christian Minnesotans, according to Christianity Today.
Walz would be the second Lutheran vice president if elected, depending on how one counts. Fellow Minnesotan Herbert Humphrey, vice president to President Lyndon Johnson, was raised Lutheran but later attended a Methodist church.
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