During a recent appearance on Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, Newt Gingrich explained why he thinks he's getting more popular among evangelical voters despite being a Catholic, a serial adulterer, and divorced. It's because he more than any other candidate understands that there is a "war on religion" out there and he's willing to do battle on evangelicals' behalf.
I think the two key appeals are passion -- I think they instinctively can tell that I care so deeply of this country and the future of their children and grandchildren -- and second, I think the sense that I understand that there's a war against religion, and that I'm prepared...to actually fight back for the first in their lifetime and take on the judiciary when it's overreaching and when it's trying to drive God out of life.
Source: Crooks & Liars [emphasis added]
First, I think we probably need to understand that Newt Gingrich doesn't really believe there is a "war on religion" -- or if he does, that he thinks it's a bad thing. He surely doesn't think that there is any kind of "war" targeting Buddhism, Hinduism, or Judaism in America. If there is a "war" targeting Islam, he's probably be happy to join it.
No, when he says "religion" he only means "conservative evangelical Christianity." That's where he's getting the support, after all, and this is a group which considers itself to be perpetually persecuted. Conservative evangelical Christians do imagine that they are being targeted in a war and they will surely support any politician willing to pander to their martyr complex.
Second, the only "war" that might credibly be claimed to exist is a "war" on religious and Christian privilege. Neither Christians generally nor conservative evangelical Christians in particular are being discriminated against, harassed, threatened, or otherwise being excluded from political, social, or cultural life. Quite the contrary, in fact: Christians wield all or nearly all of the levers of power in society while atheists are consistently harassed and threatened.
So if Newt Gingrich is offering to ride into battle on behalf of evangelicals in this "war," it means he's offering to defend their unjust privileges -- privileges that they only ever acquired through the abuse of power in the past. Preserving such unjust privileges means opposing basic principles of civil equality and equal justice. So that's basically Newt Gingrich's political platform: "a vote for me is a vote to preserve white male Christian privilege in America".
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