The editor of the American magazine Chronicles Thomas Fleming. A cover of the American magazine Chronicles.

Tell us a few words about the history and the ideology of the Rockford Institute and Chronicles magazine.

The Rockford Institute was founded in 1976 to provide a serious critique of the revolutionary culture that had taken over American universities, schools, social and political agencies, the arts, and the media. Chronicles: a Magazine of American Culture was established as the principal instrument of that critique. Originally designed as a critical review of American literary and intellectual culture, Chronicles has evolved into a positive voice for the older traditions of the West: Christianity, particularly in the Catholic and Orthodox forms, the classical tradition in education, moral responsibility, and the social order rooted in marriage and the family. Politically, Chronicles is the leading voice of what is often called Palaeoconservatism, a term we coined many years ago to distinguish ourselves from the Neoconservatives. Palaeoconservatism emphasizes the importance of family and community, a social order that should not be invaded by government, the autonomy of local and provincial governments and cultural traditions, and a national government restrained by the rule of law and the US Constitution. While we favor a strong national defense, particular in response to the rising tide of Islamic aggression, and an immigration policy that favors Christian Europeans over non-Christians, we also oppose the imperialistic adventures of the past several administrations. In particular, we strenuously opposed America's unjust and illegal actions against the former Yugoslavia, and we regarded the Iraq War, even before the invasion, as an unmitigated disaster whose poisoned fruits will harm future generation.

Many Europeans describe the USA under George Bush as a deeply religious Christian country. Does this view correspond to reality?

Because the USA has not suffered, until recently, from the overt anti-Christianism that has marked the history of France and Italy, Americans are favorably disposed toward Christianity. This does not mean that they have a very deep faith. In general they do not, and regular church-going is mostly characteristic of older women who live in the Southern states. Much of this country's religiosity is superficial and has little effect on the social and political thinking of the people. While most Christians dislike abortion, they do not especially oppose contraception, and show little inclination to resist a culture that celebrates adultery, fornication, and homosexuality. Worst of all, American Catholics tend to ignore their Church's teachings and not only on moral issues. The condemnations of the Iraq War by two Popes has had little impact on Catholic supporters of the President.

Are there attempts in the USA to downgrade the religious character of Christmas holiday?

Every year the war against Christmas makes strides. By a perverse and irrational reading of our Constitution, states and cities and public schools are not allowed to display Christian symbols or permit prayers or the reading of the Holy Scriptures on their property. Increasingly, the Christmas Season is being replaced by the Holiday Season, and "Happy Holidays" is heard far more often than "Merry Christmas". The great retail chains, owned mostly by non-Christians or anti-Christians, have taken the lead in secularizing all references to the holiday, though last year there were so many complaints and threats of boycotts that some companies seem to be rethinking their policies. In addition to these rather cautious steps, the entertainment media regularly blaspheme against Christianity and travesty Christian symbols and ceremonies.

What does Christmas mean to you as a Christian?

For me as a Christian of both Catholic and Orthodox background, Christmas is one of the most joyful holy days of the year. In a way I am not too disturbed by the war against Christmas, because throughout my lifetime Christmas has been publicly celebrated in its most secular form. Santa Claus, Christmas trees, cartoon films about snowmen and reindeer, long ago cast into the shadow the Christian celebration of the incarnation, and songs like "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas," "Jingle Bells, and Elvis Presley's "Blue Christmas" are heard far more often than the old Christian songs like "Adeste Fideles" and "Joy to the World, the Lord is come". Now is a time when the sheep are being separated from the goats, and that is not entirely a bad thing.

Has the West entered a phase of de-christianization? If yes, what are the reasons for it?

The West took its first steps into anti-Christianity in the 15th century, as Renaissance Platonists (Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, Giordano Bruno) turned toward ancient paganism and occult mysticism. This movement, whose members eventually included Descartes, Francis Bacon, and Sir Isaac Newton, became virtually all-powerful by 1700. Enlightenment intellectuals openly mocked not only the supposed abuses of Christianity but Christ himself. Voltaire frequently signed his letters "Ecrasez le consubstantiel," that is, wipe out the God-man Christ. The French and Russian Revolutions were merely the armed expressions of this movement. On the other hand, the supposed enemy of atheist Communism, Democratic Capitalism, is itself rooted in non-Christian principles of individual selfishness and greed that is even more destructive of the Christian moral and social order than Marxism is. To his credit, Marx understood this nearly 150 years ago. The Orthodox East, although it produced a key figure in this movement (George Gemistus Plethon), was substantially untouched by the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, which partly explain the moral and spiritual greatness of so many Orthodox bishops of our day. However, as Greece, Russia, and Serbia become Americanized, they are rapidly absorbing the same spiritual and moral toxins that have destroyed the West. Yes, I said "destroyed" and not "are destroying," because apart from a few small though significant remnants, Western Civilization in Europe and North America is a thing of the past.

I know you travel often to Europe. What is your opinion about the future of the Old Continent? Is it threatened by gradual islamization or is this an exaggeration?

Islam is a serious problem in Europe, particularly since the philosophy of Europe--liberal universalism--discourages the European ruling class from taking any necessary steps to combat Islamic immigration or Islamic extremism. In the absence of any countervailing religious force, we can expect some religiously-inclined young people to convert to a religion that promises them truth and a disciplined way of life. However, I believe that the threat of Islamization is being exaggerated, just as the threat of Communism used to be exaggerated. Europeans are too much addicted to their hedonism to permit a radical moral transformation that would not, in principle at least, permit public indecency, homosexuality, etc. Of course, we know that the reality of Muslim life usually falls far short of their Puritanism. The Islamic threat in Europe and the US is being exaggerated partly by politicians who expect to gain power by terrifying the people, but some of the alarmist rhetoric comes from secularized hedonists who hate all religions. In the however, European intellectuals will prefer Islam, because the entire raison d'etre of modern "civilization" is the hatred of Jesus Christ. Short of a Christian revival in Europe, there is no effective way of combating Islam, but, on the other hand, the deChristianized West cannot actually get much worse in a spiritual sense. In the long run, however, I believe Europeans will fight to preserve their lavish pensions, pornographic television, and the right to be immoral.

Greek Classical Civilization and Orthodox Christianism. What is their importance in an ever more technocratic world?

Nearly everything we are that is of any real profit to humankind comes from two sources: the Christian faith and the traditions of Greece and Rome. In the USA, the middle and upper classes all learned Latin down to the 1920's. When the classics were abandoned in America and later in Europe, we rushed headlong into barbarism. Of the European peoples alive today, only two are instinctively civilized: Greeks and Italians. This does not mean that Greeks and Italians are better educated or more moral than, say, Americans and Germans, but that they grow up in a tradition, whether they recognize it or not, that is an extension of classical antiquity. For example the modern Italian's simple joy in everyday life is entirely Roman. The rest of us are descended from barbarians--Celts, Germans, Slavs--whom it took centuries to wean from savage violence and grotesque immorality. We are like the mythical giant Antaios, the son of Earth. So long as he retained contact with his mother, that is, kept a foot or arm on the ground, he was invincible, but when Herakles picked him up and held him in the air, the brute giant lost his strength. We descendants of barbarians, so long as we learn Latin and Greek and study the classics, can maintain civilization, but within a generation of abandoning the classical languages, we lapse back--no, we rush back--into barbarism.