The “Religious Freedom” Long Game and the Santorum Surge

On the latest episode of my show on Bloggingheads, World magazine political reporter Emily Belz and I discuss the ongoing battle over contraception coverage and the Rick Santorum surge. Was Darrell Issa’s hearing last week a political winner or loser? For religious conservatives, this battle is not about 2012, but a long game, as mapped out in the Manhattan Declaration.

In this clip, Belz and I discuss the religious language Santorum uses, and what it means, in particular, his use of spiritual warfare terminology, and his 2008 claim that mainline Protestantism is “in shambles:”

The entire video is here.