The National Association of Evangelicals supports the basic principle of religious freedom for all men everywhere. No human right is superior to that of worshipping God according to the dictates of one’s conscience.

Therefore we are profoundly concerned whenever we hear of religious repression anywhere, or discrimination based on religious belief. And we deplore any and all organized efforts to curtail the rights or the freedoms of persons for religious reasons – especially where such persecution is raised against those who profess the Christian faith.

For many years reports have filtered out from repressed countries in both hemispheres, testifying to alleged discrimination against citizens on account of their faith. We are in no position to evaluate fully the accuracy of these reports, but we express our profound concern that any such reports might be based on substance.

As the President of the United States completes his plans to visit the capital of the Soviet Union, we convey to him this concern. As we pray for the success of his visit, we also hope that he may have the opportunity to convey the moral and humanitarian concern of Americans over the plight of Jews in the Soviet Union, and of other deprived religious groups and nationalities.