Vice President J.D. Vance addressed the 2025 International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, promising to protect religious liberty both nationally and globally in the face of corruption and the spread of atheism worldwide.

"Too often has our nation's international engagement on religious liberty issues been corrupted and distorted to the point of absurdity," Vance said to thousands of attendees from over 40 different countries. "Think about this: How did America get to the point where we're sending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars abroad to NGOs that are dedicated to spreading atheism all over the globe?"

"That is not what leadership on protecting the rights of the faithful looks like," the vice president added.

Vance's remark alludes to the controversy surrounding some of the programs of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), The Christian Post reports. Earlier this week, the Trump administration closed the agency's office and placed "all USAID direct hire personnel" on administrative leave.

The White House released a statement earlier this month highlighting how USAID spent taxpayer dollars during previous presidential administrations, including a $2 million grant to the activist group Asociacion Lambda to fund organizations that provide "gender-affirming care," such body-mutilating gender surgeries and LGBT activism.

Additional expenses include $70,000 for the production of a "DEI musical" in Ireland, $47,000 for a "transgender opera" in Colombia, and $2 million for "sex changes and 'LGBT activism' in Guatemala."

In 2022, a Republican member of Congress questioned the U.S. State Department for granting over $20,000 to fund a dozen drag shows in Ecuador.

During his remarks Wednesday, Vance stressed the importance of distinguishing between regimes that protect religious freedom and those that do not. He also contended that the U.S. needs to have "moral clarity" when responding to matters of persecution.

"Now this administration stands ready to do so," Vance said, applauding Trump's decision to appoint former Marco Rubio as secretary of state. Vance praised the Republican former Florida senator as "one of the great living champions of religious liberty across the globe."

Vance also praised Trump's protection of religious freedom in his first term and promised that the current administration would continue and expand this approach.

"He took decisive action to defend religious liberty, combat antisemitism and preserve the conscience rights of hospital workers and faith-based ministries as they provide care to their fellow Americans, and to remove barriers from religious organizations and businesses to contract with the federal government," Vance said.

"You shouldn't have to leave your faith at the door of your people's government. And under President Trump's leadership, you won't have to," he added.

On Thursday, Trump announced at the National Prayer Breakfast that he would create a White House Faith Office and appoint U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead a task force to target "anti-Christian bias" within the federal government.

Last month, Vance explained how Christianity laid the foundation for religious freedom during his first speech as Vice President at the annual March for Life in Washington D.C., Daily Caller reports.

"We find its foundational tenets in the gospels themselves, with Christ's famous instruction to render unto Caesar, that which is Caesar's and unto God, that which is God's," he said. "Early Christians, of course, suffered greatly, and unfortunately, many Christians still suffer today at the hands of oppressive state power. It weighed heavily on the church's first theologians and apologists."

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