This paper examines the position of international human rights law towards
missionary or proselytizing activities with a special focus on the American
context. By evaluating UN legal acts such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, the 1960 Arcot Krishnaswami Study and the 1981 Declaration on
the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on
Religion or Belief and the American Convention of Human Rights, it
investigates the extent to which such activities fall within the scope of the
right to free speech and to freedom of religion for religious organizations
(corporate freedom of religion). This is exemplified by looking at two
Evangelical religious organizations founded for the purpose of luring away
groups of believers from their original religious communities: “Mission to
Amish People”, targeting the Amish People, and “Jews for Jesus”, aimed at the
Jewish community. The clash of one religious community which considers mission
a fundamental element of its religion (as many Evangelical churches do) with a
religious community who is highly skeptical about mission (such as the Amish
or Jews) constitute the extreme test case of the right to free speech and to
corporate freedom of religion. Given the highly various importance which
mission can play in different religions, the article suggests to solve each
case individually by carefully examining the content of each religious
doctrine
