COLUMBIA — Presidential candidates are increasingly scrutinized about their religious beliefs, Dan Gilgoff, the political editor of beliefnet.com, told fellow journalists on Thursday.
Gilgoff publishes a series of blogs called "God-o-meter" on beliefnet.com, which follows political candidates and the way their religious views impact political parties and potential voters.
Gilgoff immersed himself in politics after the presidential election in 2004, when he was assigned to investigate the interest in Christian-value voters. He said he found that Americans had more interest in the religious views of the candidates than ever before.
Soon after, an agent contacted him about writing a book, which led to the publication of "Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War."
Politics then really became Gilgoff's interest and led him eventually to beliefnet.com.
"It's a way to get into the 21st century," Gilgoff said. "It's only on the Web, and it was a great way to cover my new interests, religion and politics, in a new way."
The "God-o-meter" is updated several times a day, with each candidate rated on a 1-to-10 scale, from secular to theocrat. It helps sort out what one needs to know when it comes to the relationship of religion to politics, Gilgoff said.
Gilgoff said he likes how blogging opens readership to more people who can get their opinions out there.
"I've gotten more responses to my blogs in six months than I got as a regular reporter in six years," he said.