As two bombs exploded inside Coptic churches on Palm Sunday, the shock reverberated around the world. “In just seconds, the entire church was filled with smoke, fire, blood, and screams,” Fr. Daniel Maher, who was serving in St. George Coptic Church on Palm Sunday when the first bombing attack took place, told the Associated Press. Fr. Daniel survived, but his son, Beshoy, was among the 44 deaths recorded so far. But the world, and especially the Church, neither suffers nor...

Public Domain Scholars from the Acton Institute will be speaking at The Henry Symposium on Religion and Public Life. The Symposium will be held April 27th – 29th, 2017 at the Prince Conference Center on the campus of Calvin College. On Friday April 28th from 8:15 AM to 10:00 AM Dr. Andrew McGinnis and Dylan Pahman will both be presenting papers on the panel Blurring at the Boundaries? Lines Between the Spheres in 19th Century Presbyterian and Reformed Social Thought....

Anew study by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation reports on the extent to which governments and societies around the world impinge on religious beliefs and practices. Here are seven figures you should know from the latest study ontrends in religious hostilities: 1. Of the 198 countries included in the study—covering 99.5 percent of the world’s population—105 (53 percent) experienced widespread government harassment of religious groups, up from 85 (43 percent) in 2014 and 96 (48 percent)...

Public Domain Last week Dr. Jonathan S. Marko, Assistant Professor of Philosophical & Systematic Theology at Cornerstone University, spoke before some Acton Staff and local scholars on John Locke and the role of Scripture in public morality. The talk, “‘Ready Dug and fashioned’: John Locke on Scripture’s Primacy for Public Morality,” was followed by a lively question and answer session in which Dr. Marko graciously took on ers helping us better understand Locke’s moral philosophy and personal religious convictions. Dr....

Now that we’re within a few days of the 100-day deadline, though, President Trump has changed his mind. Yesterday, he said he will not be labeling China a currency manipulator. Whatever you feel about the flip-flop, Trump’s rhetoric had caught up with reality: China hasn’t devalued its currency since 2014. In fact, for the past few years China has tried to prop up the renminbi (their currency, which we know as the ‘yuan’) for to keep it from falling. But...

Note: This is post #29 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. If price controls have negative consequences—and they do—then why do governments enact them? In this video by Marginal Revolution University, economist Alex Tabarrok looks at the example of President Nixon’s wage and price controls in the 1970s. These price controls were popular, because the American public didn’t think that the price controls were to blame for things such as long lines at the fuel pump. Without knowledge...

People of faith in Europe increasingly face exclusion from whole professions because of their moral beliefs. I write about the latest chapter in this tale – how disregarding the free market helped cause it, and how free market economic principles can help alleviate it – in a mentary for The Steam. Ellinor Grimmark, the midwife at the heart of the Swedish court case. Last week, the Swedish Labour Court ruled against Ellinor Grimmark, a pro-life midwife who has been denied...

Cuban officials have announced the island is turning to genetically modified organisms (GMO) to help feed its increasingly hungry population. Hunger is spreading in Cuba, something officials ascribe to higher levels of tourism. Tourists can afford to pay more for food, so they outbid the native population. The New York Times wrote that food insecurity is “upsetting the very promise of Fidel Castro’s Cuba” (though, in their defense, his reign owed much to their coverage). But Cuba’s use of GMOs,...

Late 16th century icon of Jesus’s decent to Hades and resurrection by Markos Bathas (1498-1578). Public domain. This Sunday Christians all over the world (East and West together this year!) celebrated Easter or Pascha, the feast of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the holiest day of the liturgical year, the beginning of a festive season that lasts for the next forty days. I’m Greek Orthodox, and in Orthodox churches (and Eastern rite Catholic churches) it is traditional for the priest...

Today is Good Friday*, the religious holiday memorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. Christians have celebrated the event for over two millennia. But what was the date of the original Good Friday? Almost all scholars agree that Jesus was crucified in the spring of either A.D. 30 or A.D. 33. In their book,The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived, Andreas Köstenberger and Justin Taylor contend...