At a CNN Townhall, an Iowa voter asked 38 year-old Republican Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to respond to Americans who cannot accept a Hindu President. In his response, Ramaswamy spoke openly about being raised a Hindu, and having received a traditional upbringing growing up.
To Americans who believe that a non-Christian cannot be President, he said, “I respectfully disagree.” He then went on to state that the value systems underpinning both Hinduism and Christianity are similar and described his traditional upbringing as a Hindu.
“My faith teached me that God puts each of us here for a purpose, that we have a moral duty to realize that purpose” he said. “That God works through us in different ways, but we’re still equal because God resides in all of us.”
Ramaswamy is currently in the race to be the Republican Presidential Candidate along with fellow Indian-American Nikki Haley. However, they are both polling at 5% and 11% respectively among Republican party’s voters, far behind Trump at 61%. With Trump likely to be the Presidential nominee, there is speculation that Ramaswamy is angling to be picked as his running mate next year.
Ramaswamy shared the clip from the CNN Townhall clip on X (formerly called Twitter), you can watch it here.