Several high-ranking Latter-day Saint leaders met Thursday with Vice President Mike Pence about a common concern: religious freedom in the United States and across the globe.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints want to be able to “go anywhere in the world to witness and testify to what we believe, and not be persecuted or threatened because of our position on Jesus Christ,” M. Russell Ballard, acting president of the faith’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, told reporters after his exchange with Pence. “Everybody should have the same opportunity.”

They did not discuss countries such as mainland China and Russia, where open proselytizing is forbidden, Ballard said, but they did mention “the broad expanse of the church worldwide, where we have missionaries scattered all over the world, trying to share our religious beliefs.”

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