Glorious Greece

Uncommon displays of God’s common grace abound in Athens | Marvin Olasky

ATHENS — When the apostle Paul came to this city almost 2,000 years ago, he immediately perceived that Athenians were enormously religious. Olympic guests this month will see honor paid to the gods of sport but heavy tribute to the gods of terrorism: The city is getting spruced up but the biggest expense is security, and with checkpoints galore traffic congestion is multiplying.

Greece made a $7.5 billion bet that hosting the games would revive its tourist industry in the face of growing competition from Turkey and Spain. Now, though, visitor numbers seem likely to fall a bit, not rise: Greeks are blaming poor marketing but most of all terror about terror, as visitors hesitate to spend big bucks for the possibility of witnessing or participating in a nightmare.