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In a day when the conservative point of view has been labeled as both the bane of an intolerant society and the boon of America's cultural rebirth, William F. Buckley, Jr.—the "patron saint of conservatism," as his biographer, John Judis, calls him—offers a measured assessment of some of today's most challenging social and moral issues.

Renowned for founding the conservative journal National Review, Buckley, 69, is the recipient of countless awards, including the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom. As the author of numerous books and plays, the host of the PBS series Firing Line, a distinguished thinker and lecturer, and a gifted harpsichordist, Buckley has earned a reputation as a true Renaissance man. But often lost in his elaborate vita is the fact that Buckley's work is informed by a strong Christian faith. In his memorable book "God and Man at Yale" (1951), Buckley reflected on the challenges of taking his Catholic faith into the secular arena.

Last spring, CT advisory editor Michael Cromartie visited Buckley at his New York office, where the two discussed the role of Christians in America's pressing, at times heated, debates about morality and civil responsibility. Buckley also shares some glimpses into his forthcoming book on Christianity.

THERE IS A LOT BEING WRITTEN NOW ABOUT THE GROWING INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOUS CONSERVATIVES IN POLITICS. WHAT IS YOUR ASSESSMENT OF THIS NEW DEVELOPMENT?

What we see here is a mobilization of people who are properly horrified by what they see going on in Hollywood, in the growth of single-parent families, and so forth. They've figured out that our foundations need restoring, and I have never doubted that those foundations are religious. So this is how they reach the general public, as religious people rather than as political people. Their affinity is much closer to conservatives than to liberals for the obvious philosophical reasons.

I'm not frightened by it. But I think it's important to keep the matters discrete and to know when you are talking about one thing and when you are talking about something else.

WHAT WARNINGS WOULD YOU HAVE FOR THE LEADERS OF THE CHRISTIAN COALITION AND OTHER EVANGELICAL ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS SPEAKING OUT ON SOCIAL ISSUES?

What frightens people most about the Religious Right is the rhetoric that is sometimes used. There ought to be some thought given, for example, as to how you formulate your antihomosexual position: it should be more pastoral than vitriolic.

Now, I haven't entirely figured out a way to do it, and I haven't given it as much thought as I should have. But I have found myself consciously, in the last several years, avoiding just plain old-fashioned gay bashing. In the first place, it is unchristian, and in the second place, it just doesn't work. It doesn't persuade anybody of anything.

SO YOUR MAIN ADVICE TO THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT WOULD BE: "WATCH YOUR RHETORIC"?

It is not my main advice, but it is advice. I had Jerry Falwell on my program some years ago, and I tried to get him to say something offensive. But he was just so amiable and so accommodating. I remember writing soon afterward that, assuming his Moral Majority was able to apply their entire program as he envisioned it, the only inconvenience would be that some people would have to buy Sunday's whiskey on Saturday. Everything that Falwell then and [Pat] Robertson now would like to have happen was happening when I was going to school, and we didn't think of ourselves as living under a tyrannical regime.

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October 2 1995, Vol. 39, No. 11