I teach religious studies. Vance's book on his conversion is one of the worst things I've read.

[Jilly_in_VA]

Vice President JD Vance’s new book, “Communion,” is not only his story of his conversion to Catholicism in 2019, it’s also his pitch to Republicans, especially religious ones, about why he has the mettle to be the party’s 2028 presidential candidate. Writing a book has become a prerequisite for a presidential run, but as a professor who has read some awful writing, I find that Vance’s new book ranks among the worst things I’ve read. As has been reported, there’s a United Methodist Church on the cover of this book about converting to Catholicism, and that choice of illustration serves as a metaphor for the ignorance and inauthenticity found within.

Vance’s account of his conversion from evangelism to atheism and then to Catholicism is familiar to those of us who study religious switching in America. According to the Pew Research Center’s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study, 35% of American adults were raised in a different religious tradition than the one they practice.

But on his promotional book tour, Vance is proving himself to be woefully inept about his faith. For example, on his Tuesday appearance on ABC’s “The View,” he couldn’t answer questions about how he squares his recently found faith with the Trump administration’s policies. He seems confused about what Catholicism is and doesn’t seem to understand that Christian beliefs aren’t the same as a list of conservative talking points.

Thus, in “Communion” we get his disjointed story about how he was attracted to the Catholic Church despite his divergent views from its teachings. If nothing else, “Communion” confirms what was already obvious: Vance is not the theologian he thinks he is, and indeed, he knows very little about the Catholic faith. Despite his lack of knowledge, in his short time as vice president, he has had the temerity to question Pope Francis’ motivations for criticizing the Trump administration’s immigration policies and to lecture Pope Leo XIV on when war is morally justified.

https://www.ms.now/opinion/jd-vance-book-communion-2028-presidential-race

If it's half as awful and inauthentic as "hillbilly Elegy", I won't even bother with it because I'd just get disgusted halfway through and hurl it across the room into the trash

[kimbutgar]

1. I was at a Barnes and Noble this week and they have a table display with his books

Whoever organized the books made it look nice but the arrangement was untouched and you could see not one book was sold!

[Crowman2009]

20. Just like the Melanoma book.

All piled up unsold and gathering dust.

[31j20b3]

2. I will always be agnostic. IMO, there are many ways to end up with belief but

absolutely no way to "know."

Not being able to know is sort of central to agnosticism. It doesn't preclude an end point of disbelieving or believing

People can believe as they wish, but if they claim certainty of knowing, they need extraordinary evidence of which I think there is pretty much none that can't be dismissed as more belief than proof of existance or not


I think recent productions by AI that argue for "knowing" god exisits are proof of cultural pollution of the data base that produces such hallucination

And I think a just God that I would want to believe in would not punish me for saying because of my poor observational position I can't know with certainty, while yet having a desire that Her non-existance is my own delusion.

[3catwoman3]

14. I consider myself a content questioning agnostic...

Last edited Sat Jun 20, 2026, 02:23 PM - Edit history (1)

...and I agree with you completely that no one knows if what they believe is how things actually are. They may believe it so strongly that they think they know, but they don't.

I've found a comfortable spiritual home in a very small Unitarian Universalist congregation.

I know I'm not alone in thinking that rather than man being created in god's image, it's just the opposite - man has created god in man's image - petty, jealous, vengeful, yet described as a loving parent. Hard to square those very opposite characteristics.

[wcmagumba]

28. Very wise comment Catwoman...

I have attended UU services and also Unity Church of Christ services (very different than UU, UCofC has a lot more woo but they aren't dogmatic or pushy at all)...I consider myself agnostic too but I lean a little Buddhist (and have attended some Buddhist meditations and mini services)...

[3catwoman3]

30. We have several Buddhists in our little congregation, a lot of...

...folks who call themselves recovering/recovered Catholics, some Wiccans, and a number of atheists. A much beloved minister, who served for 25 years before Parkinson's forced him into retirement, was an atheist, which I found fascinating.

I have no problem with most of the teachings attributed to Jesus. I have a huge problem with how those teaching have been co-opted, corrupted, and contaminated by the likes of Joel Osteen, Jim Baker, Jimmy Swaggart, etc, etc, etc.

I was never comfortable with the exclusivity of "No one gets to the Father except though me," and the expectation to go out and witness and try to get people to convert.

I'm not comfortable with any belief system that is exclusive, and that's most of them.

What I like about the UU philosophy is what I think of as its "patchwork quilt" outlook - a little bit of this, a little bit of that.

[wcmagumba]

31. I find the Wiccan and other Earth centered traditions (Native American and others) very compelling...

I'm with you on Swaggart, Osteen, Baker and that ilk and think they are a bunch of scammers...I also agree on the exclusivity faiths and find actively seeking converts to be wrong...UU is probably the best for me but I don't have a UU Church nearby so just manage on my own...

[3catwoman3]

32. I remember quite clearly, even as young as about 8...

...which is when I first saw some of the TV evangelists on Sunday mornings, asking people for money and telling them they would be healed if they touched the TV screen.

Although not in those words, because I didn't know them yet, I remember thinking the 8 yr old equivalent of, "This is bullshit!"

My little congregation does have the option of participating on-line in real time on Sunday mornings at 10:30 AM
Central time. It is the Unitarian Universalist Church of Elgin, in Illinois. You'd be welcome to check us out. We are currently lay led.

https://uuce.org

[wcmagumba]

34. Thanks for the link, I might do that...my nearest UU Congregation is 30 miles one way and I don't trust my car...

[niyad]

22. Welcome to our DU family.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. I find Vance's conversion as hollow as the one taken

by Republican Clare Booth Luce.

[Trumpdumper]

13. That is an absolute winner!

You win the Cultural and Historical Context trophy for the week!

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. I'm a believer and always have been

Raised in the Episcopal Church, did some searching in my mid 20s bt came back and stayed there although I always kind of had leanings toward the Orthodox, and in 2016 I took that step. I try to be rep=spectful of others, but I find Shady's "conversion" pretty inauthentic, as I find most of his other public utterances and stances inauthentic. Basically, I find HIM to be inauthentic---IOW, a phony.

[DFW]

18. I got the identical impression of him.

I thought that Tom Lehrer showed a better understanding of Catholicism in his spoof “The Vatican Rag,” and Tom Lehrer was Jewish.

[Alice B.]

5. I thought Hillbilly Elegy was awful.

Before we all fully knew how awful the author is. The potential for a moving personal story was there but there was an exploitative and calculated flavor to it.

And as an examination of a region? Absolutely not.

I didn't know how it got past an editor because I had many notes.

[Raven123]

15. I felt the same

I remember Vance being interviewed on NPR after the book was published. I don’t remember the specifics, but I do remember his superficial and inaccurate understanding of the society he criticized.

[Alice B.]

21. 100% that. And the old Welfare Queen tropes. I couldn't believe what I was reading.

[efhmc]

23. The book club in this smallish Texas town had fierce competition to see who would get the book next. (No one was willing

to pay for it.) Well when it came my turn I passed it on quickly. It was not worth my brain cells to waste time reading it.

[Alice B.]

33. I was in grad school when I read it; got it through my university's library.

So I could criticize it in good faith.

It was actually on the recommended-but-not-required reading list for one of my classes.

When the movie came out, it enjoyed a bit of a resurgence and a lot of good progressives in my community thought it was the key to understanding the poor and the white. I was horrified.

[LogDog75]

6. It doesn't matter what's in the book

The purpose of the book is twofold.

1. He wrote Hillbilly Elegy and he needs a followup book if he wants to run for president in 2028. He needs to appeal to the uber religious base of his sick party and this book will help him in that effort.

2. The book will be bought up by his party as well as by Vance's campaign and PACs supporting him making it a phony best seller. The books will then be given out to people who donate money to the party, his campaign, or PACs.

[karynnj]

10. I wonder if going from Evangelical to atheist to Catholic

might not be a good look to the Evangelical base much of which is pretty skeptical of Catholics.

He rejected their religion and when religion became important to him, he chose Catholicism.

[TheRickles]

17. Good point - this gambit could easily backfire and alienate both groups (one hopes!).

[SergeStorms]

19. The conservative playbook....

for right-wing "author"/wannabe-politicians. Have billionaires buy truckloads of their books and give them away as "gifts," or incentives.
The billionaires write it off, the "author" makes a bundle, and whoever is unlucky enough to receive one is totally misinformed and conditioned to the "author's" lies. Mission Accomplished.

It's been working for decades and probably will for many more.

[GenThePerservering]

36. Given that the NYT best-sellers list is pretty easily

manipulated, bulk purchases to be given away with *cough* suitable donation ('Any amount, you get the book because we're stuck with thousands of copies and can't give 'em away') can give that all -important 'NYT Best Seller' tag.

[malaise]

7. This made me laugh😀😂

The Methodist Church on the cover of this book about converting to Catholicism, and that choice of illustration serves as a metaphor for the ignorance and inauthenticity found within.

[ashredux]

8. Vance is not either a "hillbilly" promise first book, nor is he a "Christian" by this book

He’s a con man as well, not as good as Trump, but he has wormed his way up the ladder so you’ve gotta give him points for being a pretty good con-man……

[ToxMarz]

9. Vance's conversion from evangelical to atheist is probably the only genuine religious stance he has taken that we know

His conversion to Catholicism is clear, he wanted to run for office and (particulary as a republican) you aren't going to go very far in this country as an atheist. Certainly not President. As to why he chose Catholicism, that's what his gop strategists decided, Like why all our conservative Supreme Court justices have to be Catholic now, it sends the right message without having to actually wade into hot button controversial issues. You can get away with just being mealy mouthed..

[Hekate]

35. Why Roman Catholic? There's credible sources say he was recruited by Opus Dei. nt

[yardwork]

11. Vance is fake.

His name is fake. The dog he claimed to own is not his. He is not and never was a hillbilly.

I doubt he has any spiritual beliefs.

Vance is a complete fraud. He is a monster in a person suit.

[Mr. Evil]

12. I'd like to throw JD Vance across the room and into the trash.

But, I don't need another hernia surgery.

[edhopper]

16. Either he is still an atheist

and the conversion was purely political, or he was never an atheist.

[miyazaki]

24. Probably changed his beliefs as many times as he's changed his name.

Confused, phony, legend in his own mind fuck wad.

[Jilly_in_VA]

25. Best description ovf him yet!

I think it should go under his picture.

[PCIntern]

26. This prick is as religious as my toilet seat.

He’s just another fuckin’ liar in a whole trainload of pseudo-religious liars. If Jesus came back and saw what they were doing, he couldn’t stop throwing up. That last line was paraphrased from Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters uttered by no less than Max Von Sydow.

[Walleye]

27. I was reading that Americans are more likely to change religions than political parties

So the real religion for evangelicals is the Republican party not Christianity. That fact explains a lot

[GenThePerservering]

37. I would say also that Americans seem to confuse

religion with politics. Their Jesus is a political mannequin to be hauled out to prove a point, not the rebel seditionist who spoke truth to power.

[Goonch]

29. ;-{) ASPIRATIONS