JD Vance’s “Christian Concept” Immigration Defense: One Year of Escalating Controversy

When Vice President JD Vance called prioritizing Americans over immigrants “a very Christian concept,” he sparked a theological firestorm. One year later, after the Pope rebuked him, a woman was killed by ICE, and 19,000+ Christians signed a petition against him—the debate has never been more intense.

It started with a Fox News interview. On January 29, 2025, Vice President JD Vance defended President Trump’s immigration crackdown by explaining what he called an “old school” Christian principle.

“As an American leader, but also just as an American citizen, your compassion belongs first to your fellow citizens,” Vance told Sean Hannity. “It doesn’t mean you hate people from outside of your own borders. But there’s this old school—and I think it’s a very Christian concept, by the way—that you 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, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world,” Vance continued.

One year later, that statement has become one of the most contested theological claims in American politics—with consequences that have reached the Vatican, the streets of Minneapolis, and churches across the nation.

The Theological Concept: “Ordo Amoris”

When critics pushed back on Vance’s claim, he doubled down. “Just google ‘ordo amoris,'” Vance posted on X (formerly Twitter), referencing a Latin term that dates back to St. Augustine.

Ordo amoris, roughly translated as “rightly-ordered love,” is a well-established principle in Catholic theology. Augustine argued that sin arises when we love out of order—for example, loving an object of creation more than God, the Creator.

St. Thomas Aquinas later developed the concept, teaching that God should be loved first and foremost, followed by oneself, then one’s neighbors—with more intense affection for those more closely related, such as family.

“The idea that there isn’t a hierarchy of obligations violates basic common sense,” Vance argued. “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?”

Conservative Christians rallied to Vance’s defense. William Wolfe, executive director of the Center for Baptist Leadership, tweeted: “Exactly! I made this same argument from the Ordo Amoris in my talk at NatCon in 2022: A Christian Case for America First.”

Author Nancy Pearcey quoted C.S. Lewis, who wrote that St. Augustine “defines virtue as ordo amoris, the ordinate condition of the affections in which every object is accorded that kind of degree of love which is appropriate to it.”

But other Christians weren’t buying it.

The Pushback Begins

Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile of Anacostia River Church in Washington D.C. fired back:

“This may be an ‘old school’ concept. But it’s not ‘a very Christian concept.’ He’s describing natural affection, a fleshly notion of love. He’s describing self-love spread over a wider area. He’s not describing Christian or super-natural love.”

“The kind of love that is ‘very Christian’ loves the enemy, the widow and orphan (who by definition [is] not your family), and the stranger (by definition not your clan, ethnicity, race or nationality),” Anyabwile continued, citing Matthew 5:43, Leviticus 19:34, and Deuteronomy 10:18.

Sociology professor Samuel Perry pointed out: “Do you really need the empowerment of the Holy Spirit & example of Christ to prefer your own people? You do not.” Perry referenced 1 Timothy 5:8: “Paul’s not saying it’s a Christian thing to prefer your own in-group. He’s saying even unbelievers take care of their family. Your standard is higher.”

Artist Makoto Fujimura quoted Matthew 22:37-40 and warned Vance: “You may make an argument for ‘conservative family values’ here as a politician, but please do not conflate Biblical teaching with what we do in politics.”

Former British MP Rory Stewart called Vance’s take “bizarre” and “less Christian and more pagan tribal.”

But the most significant rebuke was yet to come.