By Marianna Richardson, Director of Communications for the G20 Interfaith Forum
– – –
Vice President Vance made an appearance and gave a significant speech at the IRF Summit. He pointed
out that fostering a culture in which faith can thrive allows men and women to fully appreciate and
respect the God-given rights of their fellow citizens. One of the wonderful apparent paradoxes of religion
is that in connecting us to the sacred and to the universal, it deepens our commitment to our neighbors, to
our obligations to one another, and to the individual communities that all of us call home.
Bringing It Close to Home
Vice President Vance acknowledged that the participants at the IRF Summit came from all over the
country and the world. He reflected on the fact that his family growing up were Christians, but not regular
churchgoers. His grandmother, who raised him, was a deeply faithful woman, but she was skeptical of
institutionalized religion. His grandma once told him that in eastern Kentucky, where she grew up, even
the Episcopalians were “snake handlers.”
Church is a place where people of different races, different backgrounds, and different walks of life can
come together in commitment to their shared communities and their commitment to their God. It is a
place where people unite not just in the pews but in their acts of service, rallying around one another in
times of sickness or grief or celebration of new life.
Vance asked the question: “Are these not the kinds of bonds and virtues that lawmakers today should
strive to cultivate?” He said that these principles were in the first Trump administration, and they will be
even more so in the second.
The Current Trump Administration
Vance pointed out that this is only the third week of President Trump’s second term, but this
administration’s intent is not just restoring but expanding on the achievement of Trump’s first four years.
This administration believes that we must stand for religious freedom not just as a legal principle, but as a
lived reality both within our own borders and especially outside of them. He believes Secretary of State,
Marco Rubio to be one of the great champions of religious liberty across the globe.
Final Thoughts
In his final remarks, Vice President Vance stressed that both at home and abroad, we have much more to
do to more fully secure religious liberty for all people of faith. He expressed his gratitude for the
painstaking work that everyone in the room has poured into that effort. He prayed that together we will be
able to better protect the dignity of all peoples as well as the rights of all believers to practice their faith
according to the dictates of their own conscience. He ended his speech with a thank you for those who
work to preserve religious liberty, safeguarding the rights of faith communities across the globe.
– – –
Marianna Richardson is the Director of Communications for the G20 Interfaith Forum. She is also an adjunct professor at the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University.