CEO Summit: Newt Gingrich says Christians are engaged in ‘cultural civil war,’ university must remain vigilant

Speaking as a keynote guest of Liberty University’s Networking the Nations CEO Summit, hosted by the School of Business, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich highlighted the importance and implications of Christians and faith-based institutions who remain unshaken by secular society during a dinner on Thursday

Gingrich was one of multiple notable guests to speak at the summit over the last three days, as 630 CEOs, political figures, athletes, and world-class faith leaders have gathered with the goal of uniting industry minds from around the globe in promoting faith, friendship, and Judeo-Christian business principles.

“We’re in the middle of a great cultural civil war … but this is not a new fight,” Gingrich said, leading him to outline times throughout history that this “war” between secular atheism and people of faith, namely Christians, has been particularly heated. “We have people on the other side who hate us, hate what we stand for, and feel like their very way of life is threatened by our existence. Faith inherently threatens them.”

Living in a secular culture that he described as “weird” not just “woke,” Gingrich said Christians need to hold tight to an unwavering faith and not make seemingly small compromises that can eventually lead to the disappearance of faith from their daily life.

“The number of historically Catholic institutions that have become secular is staggering,” Gingrich said. “Gradually over time, they made a little compromise, and then a little more and a little more, and then one morning it was being faithful and religious that was odd (to them).”

As he stood on the stage in Liberty’s Montview Alumni Ballroom, Gingrich reflected on his many visits to Liberty Mountain over the decades and attested to the university’s firm faith. Gingrich’s first visit came around 1982, when the university was just over a decade old, while he was working with Liberty founder Dr. Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority. While the campus has changed since then, and the student body has grown immensely, he said Falwell’s “huge vision” is at the core of the university today and that Liberty is headed toward a promising future — but it will take diligence.

“This is, I think, a permanent institution, but that’s going to require permanent vigilance,” he said. “Every day, somebody will want you to be ‘normal,’ meaning selling out God. Every week, some organization will want to crush you. That’s part of the price of standing for what you believe in. A renewing constantly of the sense of belief, renewing constantly the commitment to fight for the values that are eternal, has to be part of the DNA of the organization. Otherwise it will gradually slide away.”

Gingrich recounted the story of George Washington and the Continental Army’s famous crossing of the Delaware River, which came at a critical time in the progression of the American Revolution. With their numbers depleted due to a harsh winter, enlistments about to expire, and an increasingly bleak outlook on the war, Washington was faced with the potential loss of his army and any chance of the colonies being freed from the British. His decision to bring his remaining men across the icy river was one of necessity in search of morale and momentum, using a dedicated few to change the tide of the war.

“But we’re a long way from where Washington was,” Gingrich said. “We have enormous resources — we’re not asking any of you to march in the snow without boots; we’re not asking any of you to cross a river in the middle of an ice storm. We have no reason to lose our morale and no reason to be afraid.”

Society without faith will fail, Gingrich said, and he believes that places like Liberty University will be the blueprint when it comes time to rebuild.

“You cannot sustain society without religious belief,” he said. “What they’re trying to do is impossible, and therefore they will fail, and institutions like Liberty will be the baseline from which we will rebuild an America that truly has a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

Other keynote speakers have included Steve Green, President of Hobby Lobby; Winsome Sears, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia; and Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation. On Wednesday, the event featured several former professional athletes, including NASCAR legend and Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports Jeff Gordon and former NFL player and president of Opportunity Zones Jack Brewer.

The summit has also hosted highly successful African business heads and leaders, with special sessions on business in Africa.

For more news from the summit, go to Liberty.edu/News.