International activities of evangelical Baptist Christians in the conditions of the Soviet policy of state atheism (1960–1980s)
Keywords:
Evangelical Christians-Baptists, state atheism, Cold War, international policy, propaganda, USSR.Abstract
The article explores international activities of Evangelical Christians-Baptists in the conditions of late Soviet time and Cold War. In that time there were two opposite wings of this denomination, official and clandestine, which developed different strategies of international cooperation. Soviet authorities fostered international contacts of leaders of the official Evangelical-Baptist Union in order to showcase religious freedom in the USSR. At the same time, leaders of the clandestine part of the community endeavored to inform the international human rights organizations about persecutions of believers by Soviet regime. In order to improve international image of the Soviet Union, its authorities gradually loosened the restrictions for religious organizations. Thus international activities of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, among other factors, eventually led to liberalization тof Soviet domestic atheist policy.
