Ethnic Estonian's look to Church leaders as having a voice of authority that can be trusted. Many evangelical Protestant leaders have been intimately involved in Estonia's independence movement from the very beginning. As in the other two Baltic States, there is an understanding among the people that only God can bring about freedom. Latvia A mixture of Orthodox, Evangelical, Catholic and Lutheran believers have united in an evangelistic thrust to transform their nation. There is more religious freedom in the capital city of Riga than any other place in the Soviet Union.
Christian television operates without surveillance and broadcasts to the Russian city of Leningrad.
Evangelistic street meetings are now common and there is a great openness among the people to hear the Gospel. As the Christian revival is growing in Latvia, nationalistic fervor is encouraged among the people. In the most outspoken of the Baltic states in maintaining their right to secede from the Soviet Union, Spirit-filled Catholic believers have been at the forefront of the independence movement. Long repressed and forced to meet in the underground, Lithuanian Catholics have displayed a genuine revivalistic fervor in the midst of persecution for many years. The Lithuanian autonomy movement has boldly stated that they will no longer accept a one-party rule and have rejected the authority of Moscow.