Editing Evil Empire speech (section)

==Speech==
Reagan spoke at the 41st annual convention of the National Association of Evangelicals on March 8, 1983, in the Citrus Crown Ballroom of the Sheraton Twin Towers Hotel in [[Orlando, Florida]].<ref>{{Harvtxt|Jones|2018|p=161}}.</ref> The speech, marking his first recorded use of the phrase "evil empire" to refer to the Soviet Union, has become known as the "Evil Empire" speech. In that speech, Reagan said:<ref>{{cite web| url= http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/reagan-evil-empire-speech-text/ | title= Ronald Reagan, Address to the National Association of Evangelicals ("Evil Empire Speech") |date= March 8, 1983 | work= Voices of Democracy: The U.S. Oratory Project | publisher= [[University of Maryland, College Park]]| access-date= April 19, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.presidentreagan.info/speeches/empire.cfm |title=President Reagan's Speech Before the National Association of Evangelicals |publisher=The Reagan Information Page |date=March 8, 1983 |access-date=July 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040609055415/http://www.presidentreagan.info/speeches/empire.cfm |archive-date=June 9, 2004 |url-status=usurped }}</ref>

<blockquote>Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness—pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the State, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world&nbsp;....
So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride—the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an ''evil empire'', to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.</blockquote>

The audience applauded Reagan's speech.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Goodnight|1986|p=401}}.</ref> A band played him off with the song "[[Onward, Christian Soldiers]]".<ref>{{Harvtxt|Davis|1983|loc=paragraph 9}}.</ref>