Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/ex-senator-danforth-discusses-faith-in-politics Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript In his new book "Faith in Politics," former Republican Sen. John Danforth from Missouri calls for moderation and tolerance in religious and political life. He sits down with Gwen Ifill to discuss his views. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. RAY SUAREZ: And to our conversation on "Faith and Politics." That's the subject and the title of a new book by former Republican Senator John Danforth of Missouri. He recently talked with Gwen Ifill at the historic Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. GWEN IFILL: Senator Danforth, thank you for joining us.FORMER SEN. JOHN DANFORTH (R), Missouri: Thank you. GWEN IFILL: You write in your new book that there's a difference between being a Christian person and having a Christian agenda for politics. Explain what you mean. JOHN DANFORTH: Well, people who are religious, a lot of them are interested in politics and feel that they have a commitment to be in politics. And that's important, because we don't check our religion at the church door; we want it to apply to the rest of our lives. But the question is: How do we do that? And the point that I'm trying to make is there's a difference between trying to be a faithful person in your politics, on one hand, and having a full-blown political agenda on the other. The problem with having a political agenda is that we give the impression that we have God's truth, that we can convert God's truth into a particular platform, a set of political issues, and that there is God's way in politics and there is the decide against God. And I think that that's very destructive. GWEN IFILL: In your years as a senator, as an attorney general in the state of Missouri, in your years as United Nations ambassador, you were also that whole time an ordained Episcopal priest… JOHN DANFORTH: Right. GWEN IFILL: … something somebody in your book describes as like being a striptease saint, a lawyer and a religious person… JOHN DANFORTH: Right. GWEN IFILL: … so was there symbolism that you were able to act on in being an ordained person who was doing secular work? JOHN DANFORTH: Well, I thought there was some symbolism in it, and that is the idea of the church in the world, that religion is applicable to the world. And I thought that that was sort of the meaning of being an ordained person with a worldly kind of job, and not just politicians. Of course, I know physicians who are ordained and all kinds of people who are ordained, so I did think that there was some meaning in that.