May 8, 2017
Yesterday, in a spectacular historic setting overlooking Valletta’s harbour, we finished the three-part public celebration of the State of Europe Forum, taking us from St Paul’s Anglican Pro-Cathedral to St John’s Catholic Co-Cathedral and lastly to the Upper Barrakka Gardens (above), by declaring the following manifesto. The 60-minutes service in St John’s can be viewed here. […]
May 1, 2017
Exactly 36 years after my first visit to Warsaw on May Day, 1981, I find myself back in the Polish capital addressing an audience too young to remember those heady days–when Lech Walesa and his Solidarity trade union dared to challenge the communist system. The euphoric Polish students I addressed back then seemed unimpressed by […]
April 24, 2017
All eyes are watching to see how the French voters decide on Europe’s future. That’s not an exaggeration. These elections are different. The consequences threaten to be far greater than that of Brexit. For those of us praying for God’s will to be done in Europe, the outcome should be of great concern. Why different? […]
April 17, 2017
(From the insightful weekly blog of www.artway.eu edited by Marleen Hengelaar, and written this week by David Lyle Jeffrey, Distinguished Professor of Literature and the Humanities at Baylor University and Guest Professor of Peking University.) “CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!” With such hymns and liturgical exclamations, worshippers on this most important day […]
April 10, 2017
Someone asked me last week why they should bother coming to the State of Europe Forum in Malta on May 7&8, four weeks from now. For those content with the way things are developing in Europe, then the forum would be irrelevant. For folk happy for politicians to decide about our futures without faith-based perspectives, […]
April 3, 2017
Last week, the cover of TIME magazine asked ‘Is Truth Dead?’ in large red letters against a black background, a direct copy of the famous ‘Is God Dead’ cover of April 8, 1966. I can remember as a teenager first seeing this cover outside a bookshop while cycling to school. It was the first TIME […]
March 27, 2017
Sixty years ago, when the Treaty of Rome was signed to start the European Economic Community, many protestants saw clear proof of a ‘Roman plot’ to fulfil the end-time scenario in Revelation 17 of a revived Roman Empire. Actually what the ‘men in black’ from Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands signed on […]
March 20, 2017
The Dutch elections were not the only show in town last week in The Netherlands. While a large gaggle of foreign journalists focused on Geert Wilders’ pending populist victory which never came, several events in Holland last week reflected on Martin Luther’s far-reaching upheaval of Europe’s established order five hundred years ago. On Thursday, when […]
March 13, 2017
Concerned with how some politicians have been using the Christian tradition as a stick to chase migrants away from Europe during the Dutch elections, two theologians recently drafted a manifesto now signed by many other theologians, church leaders, publishers, broadcasters and prominent believers. Janneke Stegeman, ‘theologian of the fatherland’, and Alain Verheij, self-styled ‘theologian of […]
March 6, 2017
FEAR NOT! said Jesus during his ministry on earth, urging his disciples and followers to trust in the Heavenly Father. Fear not! said Pope John Paul II to a million-strong crowd in communist Warsaw in 1979, and sparked a spiritual revolution which led to the downfall of communism a decade later. May your choices reflect […]
February 27, 2017
Fear of populism is causing our European political leaders to backtrack on promises and betray the declared European values of solidarity, human dignity and equality all across the continent. Even without being in government, populist parties are already shaping policies and platforms of mainstream parties who fear losing votes. Populists don’t need to win power […]
February 20, 2017
What can the heritage of plucky little Malta, smaller than the Isle of Man, teach us in Europe as we face our current challenges? This question frames the next State of Europe Forum, to be held in Malta’s capital Valletta on May 7 & 8. A Europe needing hope, healing and a reminder of the […]
