It happened again last week in Berlin. When I asked a German congregation to think of a prominent European personality who had converted to Islam, immediately the name ‘Cat Stevens’ was called out. Now, how long ago was that? It was in 1977-over thirty years ago!-that singer Cat Stevens converted to Islam at the height of a musical career. Since then he has gone by the name Yusuf Islam.
Nobody quite knows which saint gave his name to February 14, the day on which lovers traditionally send each other Valentine's cards. Biographies of two Valentines honoured on this date, from the second and third centuries, offer no romantic connections…
As we drove through the narrow paved streets of the Old City of Riga, Latvia's capital, we passed shops where angry protestors had smashed windows and looted just two weeks ago. My host's apartment was just off the Cathedral square,…
This summer, my wife Romkje and I invite you to join us as we head off once more around Europe in search of people and movements who shaped Europe. As with past years, we start in Amsterdam, city of Rembrandt,…
The road winds through English woods and fields in the countryside north of London, and eventually circles in front of the grand entrance of a sprawling red-brick country mansion. A forest of chimneys and turrets sprouts from its steep shingle…