. It is only the acknowledgment that every human being has a destiny and needs to show a loyalty which goes beyond the competence of the state, which will allow an authentic justice towards the human person. Religious liberty conditions and guarantees all true liberty. Déclaration sur la liberté religieuse, seconde session du Comité central du Conseil oecuménique des Eglises, Chichester, 1949

The International Association for the Defense of Religious Liberty

is a non-governmental organization accredited with the ECOSOC Committee of the United Nations, in New York and Geneva, and in participative statute with the Council of Europe, in Strasbourg. Its goal is to disseminate ideas of tolerance, and to defend the right for anyone to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to believe or not, freedom to change one’s religion or belief, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest one’s religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.