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Senator Rick Santorum, R-Penn., recently spoke with Christianity Today senior writer Tony Carnes about his reelection campaign. His Democratic opponent, Bob Casey Jr., declined to be interviewed. This is an edited transcript.

What issues do you find working for you out there right now?

There are several. Certainly, the immigration issue on people's minds. Second, obviously, is the national security picture with the war that we are engaged in. And related to that, energy, and our understanding that we have to become more energy secure than we are today.

You gave a widely noted speech on Islamofacism in July. Has this speech had any resonance among your constituents?

We have gotten a lot of feedback on that during my travels around the state. People understand that we are in a very serious conflict here and that I am in the lead trying to make sure we are successful in defeating the enemy that is before us

How do you define Islamofacism?

It is an ideology that is shared by people who have a radical view of Islam and want to impose that radical view of Islam through a totalitarian regime. I would make an argument that it is a perversion of Islam, as a basis for totalitarian rule and a fascist-type state. It's the government's control of basically all aspects of society, which is [fusing] government and religion into one.

Islamofacism is a complex term. Do you think it would apply to states like Saudi Arabia?

No, I would not put Saudi Arabia in that category simply because they don't subscribe to the same ideology. They don't have designs on world conquest, which Islamic fascists do. They practice Islam, and different kinds of Islam are obviously practiced throughout the world, but this is not one that is intent on world domination.

Do you have a strategy for promoting democracy in the Middle East and elsewhere?

I believe this war against Islamic fascism will only be successful with the triumph of modern Islam. If Islam does not engage in this struggle for its own religion, then this will be an intractable problem for a long, long time. And so I would suggest that it's important for us to support and foster modern Islam to be successful in this struggle against radical Islam. One of the ways to do that is to create a foundation for modern Islam to flourish. I believe democracy is one such place to allow that to occur. There are others; I mean, certainly you have a situation in Morocco where they have a king who allows modern Islam.

Hasn't the way things have gone in Iraq undermined our promotion of a moderate way or a democratic way?

No, the problem we have in dealing with foreign policy in America is that we tend to look at things through Western eyes and U. S. eyes. We believe that everything, that all problems, are solved like we solve problems here. We are dealing with a different world, a different area of the world I should say, and different expectations. We have to think longer term. We tend not to do that very well here in this country.

It seems like some administration people like Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld expected that this would all be wiped up and we'd be out of Iraq in six weeks. But it didn't work out that way; do you think he should bear responsibility for that?

I don't remember anybody saying anything could be done in six weeks. All I remember is that the President from the very beginning said this was going to be a long and difficult struggle. I think he's been pretty clear about that, and I believe that it will be a very long and difficult struggle.

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October (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50