The God-O-Meter

As I was reading the news, I came across a statistical measure of each current and former 2008 Presidential candidate’s “religiosity”. It’s called the “God-o-meter”, take a look…

http://blog.beliefnet.com/godometer/

Apparently, each candidate is measured “scientifically”, and is given either a tally up or down for all their interactions with religious questions, events and public proclamations. So, for instance, if a candidate makes a politically incorrect joke focused on a specific religion, he or she drops a point in the 1-10 scale, 0 meaning the candidate is a secularist and 10 a theocrat. And so, with a highly covered, fast-paced election, the operators of the “God-o-meter” warn the viewers to check back frequently, as it regularly “scientifically” updates itself.

Personally, I’m a little discouraged. This is a perfect indictment of the apparent meaninglessness of religion, truth and even virtue in a progressively more post-modern society. In a culture where scientific analysis is the only method toward “truth”, social scientists have now moved their way into faith, thinking it something to be empirically examined. It seems common sense that there is more to to one’s faith than merely stating its importance and the effectiveness in which it is used as a political tool (this is how the “God-o-meter” rates the faith of each candidate). However, implicit to the operators’ understanding, nothing it seems is out of the reach of scientific research.

My problem with merely studying the “tangible manifestations” of one’s faith is that it seems to disregard its all-encompassing nature. Faith is not about randomly choosing a few morals and an understanding of some imperceptible deity, as this study seems to assume. But rather, it is not a point of view: it is life for the faithful. It is something that demands the entirety of the human person – every social interaction, personal thought, and one’s relationship with the world and justice. For nearly all major religions, faith is not a lifestyle that threatens other lifestyles, as it is seen in our culture today. Rather, it is life. So, to attempt to measure one’s faith by the effectiveness of words is merely an illusion. Faith is not solely expressed through one’s speeches or support to faith-based initiatives, but rather in the entirety of one’s life. To scientifically investigate one’s faith in this matter undoubtedly going to come up short, as it is impossible to measure completely. Sure, speeches may help demonstrate one’s faith, but never will they define him or her as a theocrat. Faith cannot be compartmentalized, as it is the wholeness of the person. So to study only one aspect and try to garner some conclusion as to how overtly religious a candidate is, seems a bit out of touch with reality.