WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – Vice President JD Vance delivered the keynote speech at the 2025 International Religious Freedom Summit in the nation’s capital Wednesday, tying the Trump administration’s early actions to a commitment to freedom of worship at home and abroad.
America’s Founding Fathers listed “freedom of religion first among the liberties enshrined in our great Constitution,” Vance told the crowd. Moreover, “religious freedom flows from concepts central to the Christian faith, in particular the free will of human beings and the essential dignity of all peoples.”
“We find its foundational tenets in the Gospels themselves with Christ’s famous instruction to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto God that which is God’s,” he said. “Early Christians, of course, suffered greatly and, unfortunately, many Christians still suffer today at the hands of oppressive state power.”
“We remain the world’s largest majority-Christian country, and the right to religious freedom is protected by the people for everybody, whether you’re a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim or no faith at all,” Vance declared. “Now, our administration believes we must stand for religious freedom, not just as a legal principle, as important as that is, but as a lived reality, both within our own borders and especially outside our borders.”
The vice president cited several of President Donald Trump’s early actions in support of freedom generally and religious freedom specifically. In his first weeks back in the White House, Trump has issued pardons for the 23 pro-life advocates prosecuted by the Biden administration under the FACE Act, placed strict new limits on future FACE Act use, ended the prosecution of a whistleblower who exposed child mutilation practices at a Texas hospital, banned government agencies from pressuring social media platforms to censor content, and directed federal departments to respect parental rights in education decisions.
“In recent years, too often has our nation’s international engagement on religious liberty issues been corrupted and distorted to the point of absurdity,” Vance continued. “Think about this: How did America get to the point where we’re sending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars abroad to NGOs that are dedicated to spreading atheism all over the globe?”
Vance seemed to be referring to the Trump State Department’s 90-day freeze on foreign aid disbursed through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). With exceptions for certain food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt, the pause is meant to give the administration time to conduct a more thorough review of foreign aid to determine what permanent cuts should be made.
Critics of the freeze claim it has cut off food and medical essentials all over the world, but the administration cites millions in waste and left-wing activism, such as “diversity” initiatives, “transgender”-based “art,” LGBT activism, birth control, and more. Pro-life advocates have also identified millions funneled via USAID to pro-abortion groups around the world.
“Part of our protecting religious freedom initiatives means recognizing, in our foreign policy, the difference between regimes that respect religious freedom and those that do not,” he went on. “The United States must be able to make that distinction. We must be able to look at the catastrophes like the plight of Iraq’s Christians over the past three decades, and possess the moral clarity to act when something has gone wrong.”
“You shouldn’t have to leave your faith at the door of your people’s government, and under President Trump’s leadership, you won’t have to,” Vance declared.
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