Vivek Ramaswamy has emerged as a leading Republican candidate in the last few weeks, particularly among those seeking an alternative to Donald Trump but his faith might be a stumbling block amid Republicans. Ramaswamy, a practicing Hindu, has also been attacked for his faith by both the DeSantis campaign and Hank Kuneeman, a pro-Trump pastor, self-christened “prophet” and election denier. Supporters of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump carry signs past a campaign bus of Republican presidential candidate businessman Vivek Ramaswamy parked near the Fiserv Forum on August 22, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.(Getty Images via AFP)

According to an article in The Rolling Stones, Kunneman, spent a large part of a recent sermon attacking Ramaswamy’s faith, claiming they were in danger from this “new young guy”.

He claimed: “If he does not serve the Lord Jesus Christ you will have a fight with God.” Attacking Ramaswamy’s beliefs, Kunneman said: “What are we doing? You’re gonna have some dude put his hand on something other than the Bible? You’re going to let him put all of his strange gods up in the White House?”

Kunneman said he didn’t care how good “someone’s policies were” if you didn’t profess the “name of Yeshua”. Incidentally, Ramaswamy has never denied his Hindu faith even going as far as saying that he’s not “running for pastor-in-chief” but commander-in-chief. He claims that the “real divide” isn’t between those of Hindu, Christian or Jewish faith” but between those who believe in “one true God” and “those who have replaced the vacuum with new religions like “wokeism, transgenderism, climateism and COVIDism”.

In fact, Ramaswamy claims his faith is a unique advantage: “I stand unapologetically for the revival of faith. I’m at liberty to do it even more freely without anybody accusing me of being a ‘Christian nationalist.’”

However, Ramaswamy has been attacked by other Christian nationalists. Jackson Lahmeyer, who founded Pastors for Trump exclaimed at a “a Hindu guy, that’s like 35” being “tied for second place with Ron De Santis”.

Oklahoma pastor John Bennet, meanwhile called him an “Indonesian guy” who was “claiming to be Christian so he can get Christian votes”. Of course Ramaswamy has never pretended to be Christian and even though he has called Jesus the “son of God”.

However, his faith could be a stumbling block and is likely to be used by opponents as well. A New York Times piece claimed: “But Mr. Ramaswamy has a potential liability that the DeSantis campaign appears ready to exploit with the heavily white, Christian conservative voting base of the G.O.P. — his background. His parents are immigrants from India. He maintains his Hindu faith, and as the DeSantis super PAC memo put it, he “was very much ingrained in India’s caste system” — his family is Brahmin, the highest caste in the Hindu hierarchy.”

Vivek on India

While owning up to his ethnicity, Vivek Ramaswamy has also batted to “expand partnership with India”. He further added that America and India had a “relationship of mistrust” because Washington hadn’t had a “trust-based dialogue” between the two countries.

He said: “In fact, part of the reason that we have a relationship of mistrust, I would say a relationship of trust with India that could leave room for improvement, is that we haven’t had the kind of trust-based dialogue between our two countries. And so, you know what? If I’m not gonna get that done by the end of my first term, I would consider that a personal failure on an ethnic count.”

Vivek's 10 Truths

Recently, Vivek Ramaswamy came up with 10 truths for his campaign, reminiscent of the 10 commandments in some way which were:

1. God is real.

2. There are two genders.

3. Human flourishing requires fossil fuels.

4. Reverse racism is racism.

5. An open border is no border.

6. Parents determine the education of their children.

7. The nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to mankind.

8. Capitalism lifts people up from poverty.

9. There are three branches of the U.S. government, not four.

10. The U.S. Constitution is the strongest guarantor of freedoms in history.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON

ABOUT THE AUTHOR HT News Desk Follow the latest breaking news and developments from India and around the world with Hindustan Times' newsdesk. From politics and policies to the economy and the environment, from local issues to national events and global affairs, we've got you covered. ...view detail