We must fight on all fronts; reinvest in and renew fields that have been neglected: culture, the arts, media, etc. The reconquest of our countries depends above all on the reconquest of our minds.

Once Christianity faced off with modernity, says Chantal Delsol, the handwriting was on the wall. And even though a handful of elites deluded themselves into believing in the future of atheism, most people need gods—and soon the old gods began to creep back in.

Today, the image of the cave is regarded with suspicion. It seems to call for rule by experts and social engineers, for a tyranny of technocrats: a dubious, if not diabolical, prospect.