Watch: JD Vance Gets Fiery Response from AmFest Crowd After Declaring the U.S. ‘a Christian Nation’

In a political climate that is hostile to Christians, Vice President JD Vance unleashed a forceful statement of principles during his Sunday speech at Turning Point USA’s AmFest.

“More than any time, I can recount, people are talking about American identity and figuring out what it is that unites us. But I want to say something here. The only thing that has truly served as an anchor of the United States of America is that we have been, and by the grace of God, we always will be, a Christian nation,” Vance said to massive cheers from the Phoenix crowd, according to a video posted on X.

“Now, I want to be explicit because, of course, the fake news media will twist everything that I say. I’m not saying … you have to be a Christian to be an American. I’m saying something simpler and truer,” Vance said, pausing briefly as the crowd booed the media.

“Christianity is America’s creed. The d moral language from the Revolution to the Civil War and beyond. Across that history, our country’s major debates have always centered on how we could best, as a people, please God,” he said.

.@VP: “The only thing that has truly served as an anchor of the United States of America is that we have been — and by the grace of God, we always will be — a Christian nation.” pic.twitter.com/pawUZpIDZs

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 21, 2025

Vance said Christian principles are the thread that runs through the nation’s foundation

“That creed, think about it, that creed motivated our understanding of natural law and rights, our sense of duty to one’s neighbor, the conviction the strong must protect the weak, and the belief in individual conscience. And our famously American idea of religious liberty is a Christian concept,” he said.

Vance noted that “over the last 50 years, there has been a singular focus, a war that has been waged on Christians and Christianity in the United States of America. And let me say, of all the wars that Donald Trump has ended, that is the one we’re proudest of.”

Vance said the attacks on Christianity by liberals stretch back decades.

“They’ve kicked it out of the schools, out of the workplace, out of the fundamental parts of the public square. Freedom of religion transformed into freedom from religion. And in a public square devoid of God, we got a vacuum. And the ideas that filled that void preyed on the very worst of human nature, rather than uplifting it,” Vance said in a video posted to YouTube.

“They told us not that we were children of God, but children of this or that identity group. They replaced God’s beautiful design for the family that men and women could rely on and return to one another with the idea that men could turn into women so long as they brought the right bunch of pills from Big Pharma. They had all the religious fervor of a zealous convert without any of the grace or forgiveness of a true Christian,” he said.

During his speech, Vance said he struggled with despair after the September assassination of Charlie Kirk.

“And what saved me was realizing that the story of the Christian faith, like the story of these United States of America, is one of immense loss followed by even bigger victory. It’s a story, It’s a story of very dark nights followed by very bright dawns,” Vance said.

“What saved me was remembering the inherent goodness of God and that His grace overflows when we least expect it,” he added.

🔥🔥VP JD Vance at AmFest: “I didn’t bring a list of conservatives to denounce or to de-platform… we have far more important work to do than canceling each other.”

“The best way to honor Charlie is that none of us here should be doing something after Charlie’s death, that he… pic.twitter.com/KW7uLN7WnR

— Louisa Clary (@LouisaClary) December 21, 2025

Vance closed by telling the roaring crowd, “Only God can promise you salvation in heaven, but together we can fulfill the promise of the greatest nation in the history of the Earth.”

“Merry Christmas, my friends. Let’s keep fighting,” he said.

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