WASHINGTON (RNS) — Vice President JD Vance addressed a group of religious leaders on Wednesday (Feb. 5) at the International Religious Freedom Summit, arguing President Donald Trump will prioritize the right to worship freely abroad even as his administration faces lawsuits accusing him of infringing on religious freedom at home and criticism from faith groups whose funding has been affected by the president’s actions.
“Our Founding Fathers rightly recognized this, listing freedom of religion first among the liberties enshrined in our great Constitution,” Vance told the crowd gathered at the Washington Hilton. The annual summit is co-chaired by Sam Brownback, who was appointed as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom during Trump’s first term.
Vance, a Catholic, dedicated a significant section of his address to framing religious liberty as a product of Christianity.
“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,” Vance said, later insisting it is the “church fathers of classical Christianity to which we owe the very notion of religious liberty,” a historical argument popular in conservative circles.
“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 …