Tepla, Czech Republic — The Grand Rapids–based Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty is currently hosting a unique educational conference in Eastern Europe, melding economics with morality and offering post–Soviet era students a forum in which to discuss the moral potential of the free economy. Attending the "Toward a Free and Virtuous Society" conference are twenty-five students from over a dozen countries, gathered together for the three–day symposium in the Czech Republic.
"Toward a Free and Virtuous Society" conferences are held throughout the year in all corners of the United States; this year, conference will aslo take place in the Czech Republic and Mexico. This intensive three–day seminar offers an introduction to the principles of liberty—both personal and economic—to a select group of seminarians and young religious leaders. The conference focuses on the role of religion in laying the moral foundation for a just society and the related role of liberty in securing the conditions under which religious expression can be free.
"Toward a Free and Virtuous Society" conferences combine an in-depth treatment of economic concepts with concerns about social justice and the decline of moral, ethical, and spiritual values in society. The conference is sponsored by the Michigan–based Acton Institute, whose primary mission is to demonstrate religion's role as a promoter of freedom and as an educator of individual responsibility in a free society.