Vice President JD Vance has sparred with a U.K. podcaster and former politician, Rory Stewart, on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, over a concept in Christianity.
Newsweek has contacted a press officer for Vance via email for comment.
Why It Matters
The interaction between the pair started after the vice president did an interview with Fox News. in which he referred to what he called a "Christian concept" about loving one's community and those in one's own country first; while criticizing the "far left," for seeming to "hate the citizens of their own country and care more about people outside their own borders."
According to a Gallup survey from 2024, 68 percent of Americans identify with a Christian religion.
Who Is Rory Stewart?
Stewart is a former politician based in the U.K., who co-hosts The Rest Is Politics podcast with Alistair Campbell, one-time strategist to Tony Blair, who was the British prime minister from 1996 to 2007.
The podcaster previously served as a member of parliament representing the Conservative Party for Penrith and The Border in Cumbria, a northern county that borders Scotland, between 2010 and 2019.
He has also written four books, including the New York Times bestseller The Places in Between.
Stewart has taught at Harvard University and Yale Universities, where he is the Brady-Johnson professor of the practice of grand strategy at Yale's Jackson School of Global Affairs.
What To Know
In his interview with Fox News on January 30, Vance said people should "love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that, prioritize the rest of the world," in an argument about immigration.
After Vance's interview, Stewart reacted in a post on X, writing: "A bizarre take on John 15:12-13—less Christian and more pagan tribal. We should start worrying when politicians become theologians, assume to speak for Jesus, and tell us in which order to love..."
John 15:12-13 is a passage from the Bible that explains how Jesus wanted his followers to, "Love each other as I have loved you."
Vance responded to Stewart's comment, telling him to Google "ordo amoris," which refers to an order or "ladder" of affections or priorities, according to a thesis published at the University Central of Florida:The Nature of Love a Phenomenological Approach.
"Aside from that, the idea that there isn't a hierarchy of obligations violates basic common sense. Does Rory really think his moral duties to his own children are the same as his duties to a stranger who lives thousands of miles away? Does anyone?" Vance wrote in a reply to Stewart.
The vice president then added: "I've said before and I'll say it again: the problem with Rory and people like him is that he has an IQ of 110 and thinks he has an IQ of 130. This false arrogance drives so much elite failure over the last 40 years."
Stewart then replied: "An honor to have my IQ questioned by you Mr VP. But your attempts to speak for Christ are false and dangerous. Nowhere does Jesus suggest that love is to be prioritized in concentric circles. His love is universal."
He wrote that Christian love "always extends to the most vulnerable and marginalized and to those we desperately do not want to love."
"Christ does not command loyalty to family first; instead he calls for total allegiance to God," Stewart added.
What People Are Saying
Joash Thomas, author of the forthcoming book The Justice of Jesus, wrote in a post on X reacting to Vance's position: "I am a theologian trained at one of America's top conservative evangelical theological seminaries. This is not a Christian concept; it's a Western individualistic one."
Zach Lambert, an author and lead pastor of the Restore Austin church, also disagreed with Vance, writing on X: "It's important to point out that this is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10), the sermon in his hometown synagogue (Luke 4), and basically every other time he opened his mouth."
What's Next
Vance's interview sparked much discussion online outside of his verbal sparring match with Stewart, with theologists taking to X to share their views on Christian concepts relating to an order of affections.