Great nations are marked by justice, not mere strength. They respect truth rather than propaganda. They cultivate responsibility alongside freedom. They produce citizens who understand that rights and duties belong together.

States do face real threats and evil can sometimes only be checked by force. But the lesson is clear: war is a profoundly blunt instrument for creating justice, reconciliation or lasting order.

Secretary of War Hegseth’s appearance at Rededicate 250 conservative Christian rally in Washington reinforced the perception that a warrior-style, crusading Christianity is gaining influence in nationalist circles. But this neglects the broader biblical trajectory toward justice, mercy and reconciliation.

The vision of human dignity, forgiveness, reconciliation, justice and the equal value of every person before God, profoundly shaped European civilisation over centuries.

Last Saturday was ‘Europe’s’ 76th birthday. You hadn’t noticed? Few European nations make much fuss about “Europe Day”, May 9. But it is great to remember the integration that has helped avoided war among EU's nations. 

Canals in Amsterdam overflow with boats crammed with orange-clad merrymakers. Music fills streets festooned with orange flags. Children sell old toys and homemade cakes. The old story of the Dutch triumph of freedom over Spanish imperial tyranny carries contemporary relevance.

Corrie Ten Boom and her sister Betsie demonstrated that the ability to love and forgive when surrounded by hatred is a form of freedom no tyrant can touch. For the sisters, inner freedom became a form of spiritual resistance.

Suspended in the vast blackness, our planet appeared not as a battleground of competing powers, but as a delicate, radiant sphere—fragile yet hospitable and astonishingly alive. 

The sense that Christianity is losing influence and moral values are eroding creates a fear that can lead to support for strong leaders, aggressive rhetoric and simplistic solutions.

Christianity functions as culture rather than discipleship. The faith becomes a symbol of belonging rather than a call to transformation.

The Romanesque plaque from Verona captures a paradox in bronze: apparent weakness revealing hidden strength, violence confronted by steadfast love, history opened toward redemption.

Ukraine is becoming a laboratory of ethics for the global church. Historian Yaroslav Hrytsak says absolute pacifism can become morally irresponsible in the face of violent tyranny.

Sadly, when both Moscow and Washington talk ‘peace’ but do war, and trust between allies has been eroded by bellicose behaviour, we have a new reality to face.

Will Europe remember the story that formed it? Not as a tool of exclusion, nor as nostalgic conservatism, but as the living source of reconciliation, renewal and hope.

‘Never again’ asks whether Europe still believes that human dignity is non-negotiable, and that silence in the face of atrocity is complicity.

Europe is being transformed beyond recognition, hollowed out culturally and overrun by hordes of Muslim migrants in an irreversible process of civilisational decline. So prominent voices proclaim.

Johannes Vermeer left no letters, diaries or notes about his works. We know almost nothing about his artistic intentions, his training or how he achieved his extraordinary effects of light and color. 

We must remember that American isolationism and European appeasement created the permissive environment in which Nazism flourished.

Normally it would be none of my business, as a European, to comment on American politics. Unfortunately, it has become our business too.

To study is a disciplined search for truth in a world marked by confusion, distortion and power without accountability. It is how we learn to discern reality accurately, and to act wisely, proactively rather than reactively.

Johannes Vermeer’s Woman Holding a Balance offers a quiet visual parable for this moment. As we face yet another new year of war, polarisation and distrust, we need reflection which goes beyond personal self-improvement.

The emergence of the Dutch Republic birthed many features of the modern era. What might Ukraine’s victory over Russian tyranny and oppression mean for our future?

Now for the fourth time since Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, we are celebrating the Word of God becoming flesh as angels proclaimed peace on earth. So where is the peace?

Appeasement only emboldens the aggressor. Can a peace plan that rewards territorial conquest—achieved through invasion, atrocities, mass deportations, and systematic destruction—ever constitute genuine peace?

Article 17 of the Lisbon Treaty represents a Europe of pluralism and dialogue. The US National Security Strategy announced on Friday imagines Europe very differently.