JD Vance’s Sharp-Elbowed Theology

On that show, the vice president spoke in a peculiar register—one which he did not feature at the memorial. Vance styles himself as a theologically based leader, and despite what some secularists might wish, there is nothing strange about American politicians making explicit references to Christianity—going all the way back to the founding of the Republic. But the key in which Vance spoke marked a clear departure from the ecumenical Protestant language in which American politicians have historically couched not only more general references to “God” but also more explicit references to Jesus Christ and Christian faith. American Christians generally phrase public professions of faith in the language, to borrow from sociologist Robert Bellah, of “the American Religion”—a Protestant-based belief system that encompasses and has in many ways largely absorbed the American variants of Judaism and ethnic Catholicism, as well as homegrown Christian variants like Mormonism.