Europeans were still sniggering at the focus on moral and religious values that had led Americans to re-elect George W. Bush when Rocco Buttiglione proposed importing such politics from across the Atlantic. Mr Buttiglione, the Italian minister for Europe, appeared at a debate in a Milan theatre last weekend. He spoke of his rejection as European commissioner for justice by a parliament worried about his adherence to Catholic doctrine on matters of family and sexuality. He declared that European politics was now dominated by "morbid totalitarians" intent on closing off the political sphere to believers of all faiths.

Mr Buttiglione, who vocally opposed the Iraq war, cannot be dismissed as an American lackey but he dissents from the widespread European view that the US has taken a reactionary turn. On the contrary, he says, America remains "the most modern country in the world". It is simply a few steps ahead of Europe in dealing with the problems an overzealous secularism inevitably sows. Mr Buttiglione thinks Europe is ripe for such a politics. Is it?