A group of Christian and Jewish leaders in Northern Virginia accused Oliver L. North yesterday of misusing religion in his bid to unseat Sen. Charles S. Robb, saying North has created a divisive atmosphere by aligning himself with the "radical religious right." Members of the Interfaith Alliance said the Republican candidate had portrayed his campaign as a "religious battle" with those who don't share his supporters' views.

"It's sort of saying, 'My faith is the only faith,' " said Pat Lewis, spokeswoman for the group, which was formed last summer to counter conservative religious activists. The alliance is partly funded by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, but Lewis noted that both Democrats and Republicans belong to the alliance and that the money does not taint its mission.

The criticism is the latest sign of the influence that liberal and moderate groups fear conservative, church-based activists could wield for a North victory Tuesday over incumbent Democrat Robb. North enjoys enthusiastic support among religious conservatives and has been endorsed by their two unofficial leaders, ministers Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.

For this weekend, the Christian Coalition is preparing a massive distribution of voter guides that critics say sharply favor North and other conservative candidates. Alliance leaders said they are trying to counter that effort by urging mainstream religious leaders to encourage their congregations to go to the polls and to preach about the "healing aspect common to many [religious] ... traditions."

The Rev. Deborah Johnson Elder, rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Alexandria, said North cannot represent all Christians. "I am a Christian," she said. "But I am not a part of that."

A spokesman for North, Mark Merritt, denied that the GOP nominee had sought a political advantage through religion. "It's been Ollie North who's preaching religious tolerance and Chuck Robb who's preaching religious bigotry," Merritt said.

"Whenever [Robb] talks about Ollie's religious beliefs, he labels him intolerant. Ollie has never once referred to Robb's faith -- never has, never will. And Chuck Robb has been endorsed by leaders of the religious left, like Jesse Jackson."

Political analysts say it is not a surprise that the issue came up, only that it wasn't more prevalent in the campaign sooner. But Clyde Wilcox, a Georgetown University government professor who is writing a book about Christian activists in Virginia, played down concerns about the Christian Coalition's voter guides. "All partisan groups do that sort of thing," he said.

The guide to be distributed in Northern Virginia lists the candidates' positions in the Senate and two congressional races. Among other things, it asserts that Robb supports "taxpayer funding of obscene art" and "banning ownership of legal firearms."

"They're just completely wrong," responded Robb, who himself has campaigned in black churches. As for his opponent, he said, "I think there's a real concern when someone tries to incorporate religion into government."

Robb continued to press an attack against North, repeating that he is "a document-shredding, Constitution-trashing, commander-in-chief-bashing, ayatollah-loving, arms-dealing, drug-condoning, Noriega-coddling, Swiss-banking, law-breaking, letter-faking, self-serving snake-oil salesman who can't tell the difference between the truth and a lie."

For his sound bite yesterday, North accused Robb of accomplishing nothing during his six years in the Senate, summoning television cameras to a vacant lot near the Jefferson Memorial and saying Robb's record is just as empty.

North pointed out that Robb sponsored no significant legislation during his term and ticked off a list of ceremonial bills Robb co-sponsored, including a declaration of National Hardware Week. Robb repeatedly has argued that he has been influential in the Senate on such key issues such as defense spending and deficit cutting.