Thanks for all the responses! After reading everything, I think I could explain my position a little better:

I like the possibility of being a professor at a secular university in a religious studies or sociology department. Having known the religious studies department where I did my undergraduate, there was not a single professor (out of about 20) that I think would have called themselves an evangelical Christian. Yet many of them are writing books and publishing papers and teaching students about what "Christianity" is.

The reason I would like to go to a seminary first is to get better foundation before pursuing the Ph.D. at a school with a good reputation in academia. But if going to a conservative seminary would even keep me from getting into those schools, then I'm not sure I would go. If an M.A. is better to get for this than an M.Div. that's fine. Do some students get two M.A.'s? (e.g. theology and philosophy of religion)

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John Fox,
Grace Bible Church
Denver, CO