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President Trump’s address to Congress couldn’t have been more different to everything that came before, and has enjoyed rave reviews. Previously the emphasis had focused on the nature of reality. “There are no such things, unfortunately, any more, as facts,” had claimed Scottie Nell Hughes, a prominent Trumpite, in an American television interview. “People say facts are facts – they’re not really facts. Everybody has a way of interpreting them to be the truth or not true. Mr Trump’s tweets, amongst a certain crowd, a large part of the population, are truth,” she said. That’s all right then. Truth by democracy. If enough people believe it, it's true. There’s something in this. A century ago extra-marital sex was considered immoral and homophobia was widespread. Now the reverse is true. Truth can also be determined by belief. Neuro-linguistic programming teaches the force of positive thinking: if I believe it, say I can be well, tell myself I can achieve the impossible, I make it much more likely. Only believe, Jesus said, and your faith will move mountains. When I was at drama school much emphasis was put on performances which were “true.” True to me. True for you. Supremely subjective, poetic truth. Beauty is truth; truth beauty. But there is another kind of truth. In his fascinating interview on this programme, the experienced news editor Sir Harry Evans made the astonishing observation that in America they don’t study history. But history is vital for the understanding of truth. Events either happened or they didn’t. We may never know whether Anne Boleyn committed adultery, but the issue of whether she did or not remains a fact. We certainly know she was executed. Many facts – geographic, historic, scientific – not only exist but are verifiable. Facts really are facts. Whether we believe them or not. Even, “I love you,” can be provable fact. My parents promised to love, comfort and honour each other as long as they both lived. Which they did, for seven decades, until my much-loved mother died. Their love is fact, which I witnessed all my life. Many assume matters of faith are subjective truths. Some believers say they know Jesus as a friend: they “feel” him to be real. I find objective truths to be far more compelling. The written historical evidence; the recorded witness statements; the events as indubitably set down, and their most likely interpretation. As St Paul wrote, if these facts are not true our faith is utterly futile, and we should be pitied more than anyone. The empirical truth may – as yet – be impossible to verify for certain. The transformative truth of God’s love, though, can be known by many as personally powerful in their lives today. Either way, the word Gospel is Good News; not fake news.