China Confiscates Bibles

Late last year, a report circulated that Bibles would be banned at the Beijing Olympics.

That report was refuted.

The U.S. Olympic Committee received confirmation from Olympic officials Wednesday that there will be no restrictions on Bibles being brought into the Olympic village in Beijing next year.

The USOC contacted the International Olympic Committee about the issue in response to a story posted on the Catholic News Agency Web site citing a list of prohibited items that was reported to include Bibles.

That story said the Italian daily, La Gazzetta dello Sport, reported that organizers cited "security reasons" for prohibiting athletes from carrying any kind of religious symbol at Olympic facilities. Those reports and others were producing active blog discussions on several Web sites.

USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said the federation contacted the IOC about the news reports.

"We have heard from the IOC and there will be no restriction on athletes bringing the Bible or any other religious book into the village for their personal use," Seibel said in a telephone interview from USOC offices in Colorado Springs.

China went a step further.

From July 7, 2008:

China has gone one step further to dispel concerns that Olympic athletes would be barred from bringing Bibles with them to China this summer. It is now preparing to give away tens of thousands of Christian texts in Beijing and other Olympic co-host cities.

Athletes and visitors alike will be able to obtain free copies of the Bible, New Testament and booklets with the four Gospels during the Games next month, the China Daily reports.

Li Chunrong, general manager of China’s main Bible printer, said that 30,000 bilingual (Chinese-English) copies of the New Testament are being printed for distribution during the Games, according to the report. Li also said that the Beijing Christian Council has ordered 10,000 Bibles for athletes, media and others who will stay at the Olympic Village.

In addition, 50,000 bilingual (Chinese and English) copies of a pamphlet with the four Gospels have been printed. The booklet’s cover (pictured right) will feature the Olympic rings and the “running man” logo of the Beijing Games.

“This is especially significant (because) as far as I know, this is the first time an Olympics logo will be used on a religious booklet,” Rev. Xu Xiaohong, who oversees publications for the China Christian Council, told China Daily. “The Olympic spirit and the spirit of living a ‘purpose-driven life’ that Christians believe in come together in the combination.”

Still, there are no plans to put Bibles in hotel rooms, said Xu.

What a difference a month makes!

From the Associated Press:

Chinese customs officials confiscated more than 300 Bibles on Sunday from four American Christians who arrived in a southwestern city with plans to distribute them, the group's leader said.

The Bibles were taken from the group's checked luggage after they landed at the airport in the city of Kunming, said Pat Klein, head of Vision Beyond Borders. The group, based in Sheridan, Wyoming, distributes Bibles and Christian teaching materials around the world to "strengthen the persecuted church," according to its Web site.

The group arrived in China on Sunday and had intended to distribute the Bibles to people in the city, Klein told the AP in a telephone interview while still at the airport.

"I heard that there's freedom of religion in China, so why is there a problem for us to bring Bibles?" Klein said. "We had over 300 copies and customs took all of them from us."

The move comes as China hosts the Olympics in Beijing, where false media reports last year claimed Bibles would be banned from the games. The state-run China Daily reported last month that 10,000 bilingual copies of the Bible would be distributed in the Olympic Village, which houses athletes and media.

Bibles are printed under the supervision of the Communist government. The officially atheistic country only allows them to be used in government-sanctioned churches and in some big hotels catering to foreigners.

A woman who was on duty at Kunming airport's customs office confirmed over the telephone that 315 Bibles were found in the passengers' checked baggage.

The officer, who would only give her last name, Xiao, denied confiscating the Bibles. She said authorities were just "taking care" of them and provided no further details. She later said she was not authorized to speak to the media and referred questions to the national customs headquarters in Beijing, which did not answer phones on Sunday.

"We're not selling them; we give them free to the people," Klein said. "We didn't come to cause trouble, we just came to bring Bibles to help out the Chinese Christians."

The Bibles were printed in Chinese, he said.

Klein said the customs officers had told him that they could each have one Bible for personal use and not more than that. He said the officers had videotaped them and were insisting that they leave the airport.

"We don't want to go without taking those books. It cost us a lot of money to bring them here," Klein said. "They're saying that it's illegal to bring the Bibles in and that if we wanted to, we had to apply ahead of time for permission."

Xiao, the customs officer, said "authorities were just 'taking care' of them."

Sure, confiscating Bibles, taking the property away from the Americans, is China authorities' idea of taking care of them.

What is world power, mighty China afraid of?

Authorities are afraid of 315 Bibles.

That's amazing, isn't it? 315 Bibles.

They're afraid of Christianity.

They're afraid of permitting their 1.3 billion people to have the freedom to worship.

I know that sports is and should be the focus of the coverage of the Olympics in Beijing, but let's not forget what China is really about.

Oppression, oppression, oppression.
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The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 18

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.