This Week in God (Maddow blog)

First up from the God Machine this week is an apparent first at the intersection of religion and politics: a national debate for presidential candidates in which participants were asked to comment on possible messages from God.

In Thursday night’s Republican debate, towards the very end of the debate, Fox’s Megyn Kelly came back from a commercial break and said the following:

“In our final moments here together, we’re going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: ‘I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first.’”

I can find no evidence of major-party candidates ever being asked anything like this question during a televised debate, at least not since 2004, when Democratic candidates were asked during a CBS debate, .”Is God on America’s side?” Since we’re electing a president and not a preacher, arguably these questions are less than ideal.

But, one by one, several GOP candidates answered anyway. None was overly specific about receiving divine messages about White House policy priorities, but many of the Republicans seemed to relish the opportunity to address the issue of faith – and family upbringing – more generally.


(the whole shebang)
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-8815?cid=sm_fb_maddow