God-o-Meter - A scientific measure of God-talk in the elections

Bill Richardson

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Monday March 24, 2008

Carville Defends Calling Richardson "Judas"

Video here.

Comments (2)

Filed Under: Barack Obama, Bill Richardson Biblical references, Hillary Clinton, James Carville, Judas

posted by Dan Gilgoff @ 6:13pm Permalink email icon Email This Add to:

Monday September 3, 2007

Richardson to Iowa: God wants you to go first

God-o-Meter couldn’t help but chuckle at Bill Richardson’s telling an Iowa crowd that their state needs to preserve its threatened first-in-the-nation caucus status “for constitutional reasons, for reasons related to the Lord.” Will Richardson get political points for according the Hawkeye State divine purpose? Maybe. But, while God-o-Meter has read Richardson’s new book Between Worlds and therefore recognizes that he takes his Catholicism somewhat seriously, such off-the-cuff zingers may resurrect a stereotype of Democrats as invoking religion just for political purposes or as making light of religion or God. “That was a little weird," one of the speech’s attendees told The Des Moines Register. “I don't know what God had to do with choosing Iowa among other states.”

Comments (5)

Filed Under: Democrat, Iowa, Richardson

posted by Dan Gilgoff @ 4:32pm Permalink email icon Email This Add to:

About God-o-Meter

NOTE TO READERS: From June 12 to June 25, God-o-Meter is being guest blogged by Gustav Niebuhr, Associate Professor of Religion and the Media at Syracuse University, where he directs the Religion and Society Program. In more than two decades as a journalist, Niebuhr has covered American religion and other subjects for The New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. His book Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America, will be published next month by Viking. Dan Gilgoff returns to God-o-Meter June 26.

The God-o-Meter (pronounced Gah-DOM-meter) scientifically measures factors such as rate of God-talk, effectiveness—saying God wants a capital gains tax cut doesn't guarantee a high rating—and other top-secret criteria (Actually, the adjustment criteria are here). Click a candidate's head to get his or her latest God-o-Meter reading and blog post. And check back often. With so much happening on the campaign trail, God-o-Meter is constantly recalibrating!

God-o-Meter blogger Dan Gilgoff is Beliefnet's Politics Editor. A former political correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, he is author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War.

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