The Research Center for Religion and Human Rights in Closed Societies and Christian Advocacy in the Cold War

• In Event: American Advocates on Behalf of Soviet Christians

Abstract

This paper will examine this fledgling organization and its long-running newsletter, Religion in Communist Dominated Areas (RCDA). Founded in 1962 under the National Council of Churches, it survived for three decades largely as a labor of love of its cofounder, Blahoslav Hruby and his wife, Olga. Under their joint leadership, they created an operation that documented violations of religious freedoms faced by Christians in Soviet countries, and advocated on their behalf to whomever would listen. This paper explores the broader historical context in which such human rights advocacy developed and the reasons why western Christian advocacy writ large struggled to find a unified voice, political support, and financial backing in the late Cold War.

Author

• Emily B. Baran, Middle Tennessee State U