For what ever it's worth, I think the guru of Crunchy Cons is on to something in this post:

Steve Waldman, in a perceptive locution, posits that for the Religious Right, "Islamofascism is the new abortion." That is, fighting Islamic extremism has become the most important issue to many conservative Christian voters, and that it's even more important than abortion once was -- hence Rudy Giuliani's popularity with a plurality of Religious Right voters, despite his pro-choice convictions.

If conservative Christians are more sensitive than many Americans to the threat from radical Islam, perhaps it's because a) they know more about history, and b) as religious believers themselves, they understand how powerful religious belief is re: the shaping of political beliefs and acts to a degree that has been forgotten by many, even most, Americans -- and certainly the secular mainstream media.