Vivek Ramaswamy Is On the Rise. So Are Christian Nationalist Attacks on His Religion

Tim Dickinson
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Vivek Ramaswamy is getting a hard look by Republicans willing to entertain alternatives to Donald Trump, especially as Ron DeSantis continues to flounder. The 37-year-old biotech entrepreneur has surged into third place in several national polls, ahead of prominent Republicans like Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, and Tim Scott.

Ramaswamy is also a practicing Hindu, and though he has been campaigning as an anti-abortion religious conservative, his non-Christian faith is a major stumbling block for many in the GOP’s evangelical base. He’s been on a charm offensive with these evangelical audiences, but the outreach appears to be backfiring, at least among the Christian nationalist set.

Hank Kunneman is a pro-Trump pastor, self-styled “prophet,” and election denier who recently challenged anyone who believes that Biden won in 2020 should “reexamine your theology.”

Kunneman devoted much of his sermon at the Lord of Hosts Church in Omaha, Nebraska, last Sunday to blasting the GOP’s flirtation with Ramaswamy as an insult to heaven. “We are in danger as a country,” Kunneman said, hectoring to the members of Generation Z and millennials who “like this ‘new young guy.’”

“If he does not serve the Lord Jesus Christ,” Kunneman warned, “you will have a fight with God.”

As he preached, Kunneman grew exasperated and unguarded in his slights of the Hindu faith. “What are we doing?!” he asked. “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 railed against the polished Ramaswamy, who is campaigning as a MAGA stalwart. “I don’t care how good someone’s policies are or how good they sound if they don’t profess the name of Yeshua,” Kunneman insisted, using the Hebrew name for Jesus. Invoking biblical passages about a “jealous God” bringing punishment, Kunneman muttered: “You’re not bringing your idols into our country.”

The pastor’s remarks, first highlighted by Right Wing Watch, underscore the challenges faced by non-Christian candidates seeking the nomination of a party whose base is rife with evangelical conservatives. Within much of the modern GOP, simply championing a “freedom of faith” is insufficient. The reactionary goal of large numbers of Republican Christians is the imposition of a Christian faith — and fundamentalist biblical strictures — on a country they see as seduced by secularism. According to one recent poll, more than half of Republicans either actively embrace Christian nationalism or support its aims.

Kunneman’s rant against Ramaswamy came after the candidate appeared last week on Flashpoint, a Christian nationalist news program on which Kunneman is a frequent panelist. (The Ramaswamy campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

Ramaswamy’s appearance on the Flashpoint show was typically crisp and articulate. Asked to explain his religious outlook by the host, pastor Gene Bailey, Ramaswamy declared that the United States was “founded on Judeo Christian values,” and insisted that, though he is a Hindu, “I share that same value-set in common.”

The candidate insisted, “I’m not running for ‘pastor in chief,’” but also cast himself as part of right-wing America’s faithful in-group — and an eager culture warrior. “The real divide in our country is not between people of Hindu faith and Christian faith and Jewish faith,” he insisted. “It’s the people who believe in a one true God, and those who have replaced that vacuum with new secular religions instead.” Ramaswamy rattled off a slew of these “modern cults,” including “woke-ism, transgender-ism, climate-ism, [and] COVID-ism.”

Ramaswamy even pointed to his religion as a unique advantage for a GOP candidate. “I stand unapologetically for the revival of faith,” he said, suggesting, “I’m at liberty to do it even more freely without anybody accusing me of being a ‘Christian nationalist.’”

But as Ramaswamy’s star is on the rise, actual Christian nationalists are growing louder in casting him as a religious and ethnic outsider. Leaders of Pastors For Trump — the top evangelical group boosting Trump’s 2024 bid — also painted Ramaswamy’s religion as a non-starter during a prayer call this past Sunday.

Jackson Lahmeyer, the Tulsa-based preacher and founder of Pastors for Trump, marveled at the rise of “a Hindu guy, that’s like 35 years old” who somehow was now “tied for second place with Ron DeSantis.” Another Oklahoma pastor on the call, John Bennett bantered with Layhmeyer, insisting that Trump is “doing the Lord’s work. And no one else can stand up next to him.”

Bennett then swiped at Ramaswamy, whose parents are immigrants from India, as “this Indonesian guy,” whom Bennett alleged, inaccurately, is “claiming to be Christian so he can try to get Christian votes.” Lahmeyer concurred, while mangling the pronunciation of Ramaswamy’s first name: “Yeah. We need to be very clear. Vi-veek — I believe is how you say his name — he is not a Christian. He’s a Hindu. And he’s trying to appeal to the Christian base to chip away at that support, because we’re the largest base.”

In reality, Ramaswamy hasn’t pretended to be a Christian. He has played up his attendance of a Christian high school in Cincinnati, and has called Jesus “a son of God” — a qualifier that’s quite different from the son of God, as held by Christians. (Many Hindus believe in a supreme God who can manifest in a variety of forms.)

Flashpoint gave Ramaswamy significant air time last week, and one panelist, former Texas state Rep. Rick Green, even gushed: “I would love to see him, if not in the White House, certainly in the administration, and a major player for helping us restore America.” Gene Bailey is acting like he got a stern talking to from his bosses at Kenneth Copeland ministries after the appearance. The host began the next Flashpoint broadcast looking chastened, offering a stern, face-to-camera monologue “about Flashpoint from last Tuesday.”

“Let me start off with this: This program is based 100 percent on the Christian Bible, that is not up for discussion,” he read. “Neither I nor anyone else in this team has, or will ever, embrace another religion. … So why did I have a presidential candidate on the program Tuesday that professes another faith? We have a responsibility to ensure that you are fully informed and aware of all candidates that may be involved in this next presidential election.”

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