A dove in flight: to many, a symbol of peace; to some, a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Yet UVA religion professor and evangelical Christian Charles Marsh found this symbol relegated to the discount bin of a Christian bookstore, replaced by patriotic paraphernalia. Marsh believes American Christians have supplanted this cornerstone of the faith with the image of military conquest, and began writing the just published Wayward Christian Soldiers: Freeing the Gospel from Political Captivity in an effort to separate the twisted union of God and country.
 "As a Christian, I intend to vote for the presidential candidate who says the least about religion," says UVA religion prof Charles Marsh. |
C-VILLE: In an ideal world, how would you like to see the relationship between religion and politics play out in America?
Charles Marsh: At some point in the past three decades, the evangelical community decided God needed us to go and wield our power—to create lobbies and political action committees and to really Christianize the social order. It’s time for evangelicals to stop trying to be relevant and start remembering what it’s like to be peculiar. I would like to see the evangelical Christians of this country committing themselves to a season of quietness, to a time of soul searching, of repentance, during which time we will reaffirm the basic convictions of our faith and live in simple devotion to Jesus.
Which 2008 presidential candidate do you most identify with in terms of religious integrity?
As a Christian, I intend to vote for the presidential candidate who says the least about religion! Christian saturation of the public square in the past six or seven years has actually made it difficult for us to have really important, rational discussions about the range of very urgent crises we face. It only hurts the integrity of religion when it’s reduced or somehow used for political purposes or as a strategic means to garner support from the voters.
During the entire book process, what’s the best thing that has come out of it so far?
I started writing this book in the summer of 2005 on a ranch in Wyoming, waking up in the morning to the sound of the wind coming through the canyon. I felt angry about the way the Christian faith had been used and misused, but by the end of the month I had arrived at a new place in my spiritual journey and gained a new appreciation for contemplative discipline and for the language of the faith. I realized that it was really enough that I try to speak with simplicity and honesty and with as much beauty as I could muster. And that was all that God wanted.
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