A group of American Christians who had more than 300 Bibles confiscated by Chinese officials when they arrived in China is refusing to leave the airport until they get the books back, their leader said Monday.
Pat Klein said he and three others from his Vision Beyond Borders group spent Sunday night at the airport in the southwestern city of Kunming after customs officers took the Bibles from their checked luggage.
"I heard that there's freedom of religion in China, so why is there a problem for us to bring Bibles?" said Klein, whose Sheridan, Wyoming-based group distributes Bibles and Christian teaching materials around the world.
The Bibles were printed in Chinese, he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
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.
So, what gives? Why did China confiscate those Bibles? Apparently, the Chinese will permit only Bibles that have been produced by their own printers:
In China, Bibles are printed under the supervision of the Communist government. The officially atheistic country allows them to be used only in government-sanctioned churches and in some big hotels catering to foreigners.
So, OK, why is that? My question would be, what exactly is it they are printing? Has the Chinese Communist-approved Bible been altered? Has its meaning been altered? If you have seen one, read it, and can comment, I would be interested to hear about it.
