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Faith-based Diplomacy: Conservative Evangelicals and the United States Military

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 September 2013

Lee Marsden
Lee Marsden*
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Lee Marsden, University of East Anglia Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom. E-mail: l.marsden@uea.ac.uk
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Abstract

Religion is becoming an increasingly important factor for theorists and policy makers alike in the consideration of United States foreign policy. In recent years a new school of faith-based diplomacy advocacy has emerged and begun to resonate with foreign policy practitioners. This article examines the efficacy of such faith-based approaches to foreign policy problems with a religious component and argues that such an approach is inherently flawed. The article argues that a combination of a distinct military culture, which feels itself morally superior to its civilian leadership and the activism of conservative evangelicals in the chaplaincy and military leadership makes such faith-based approaches unrealistic. While acknowledging a role for pluralist religious actors in foreign policy the article rejects a faith-based advocacy approach which can exacerbate rather than resolve foreign policy problems.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , September 2014 , pp. 475 - 498
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2013 

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