Olympic Bible ban (updated)
From Newbusters:
Will the Bible be banned in Beijing for Olympic athletes? Catholic News Agency reports:
Organizers of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing have published a list of “prohibited objects” in the Olympic village where athletes will stay. To the surprise of many, Bibles are among the objects that will not be allowed. According to the Italian daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, organizers have cited “security reasons” and have prohibited athletes from bearing any kind of religious symbol at Olympic facilities.
This sounds contrary to what the communist government was promising just a few weeks ago.
Here an update via Baptist Press:
Five days later, however, CNA published an updated report indicating that visitors to Beijing are being told to take only one Bible with them into the country. The updated CNA account cited the official policy from the Beijing Olympics Web site, which clearly states that "Each traveller is recommended to take no more than one Bible into China."
Comments
Anonymous (not verified)
Tue, 2008-07-22 15:29
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This story was proven to be
This story was proven to be bogus. The Bible was never on a list of banned items. In fact, free Bibles will be available upon request. The CNA's update was a pathetic attempt to justify their original lie. I personally have never met anyone that had trouble taking a Bible into China.
The recommendation to only bring one Bible is just that...a recommendation. This is done to prevent the appearance of smuggling books into China with the intent to illegally distribute them. China will actually allow visitors to bring 3 copies of each version into the country. Any more than that are subject to confiscation, but even that is highly unlikely. Unless you are bringing in a suitcase full of Bibles, you will be OK. Besides, smuggling Bibles into China doesn't even make sense. Bibles are readily available in China, and they are much cheaper than in the West.
David
Tue, 2008-07-22 19:15
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The CNA's update was a
The CNA's update was a pathetic attempt to justify their original lie.
That's a bit of a strong statement - no allowance for any sort of misunderstanding? Here's what the reporter had to say.
The recommendation to only bring one Bible is just that...a recommendation. This is done to prevent the appearance of smuggling books into China with the intent to illegally distribute them. China will actually allow visitors to bring 3 copies of each version into the country. Any more than that are subject to confiscation, but even that is highly unlikely. Unless you are bringing in a suitcase full of Bibles, you will be OK. Besides, smuggling Bibles into China doesn't even make sense. Bibles are readily available in China, and they are much cheaper than in the West.
... unless you're trying to avoid notice from the government. Bible sales there are restricted to the official church, whose members, estimates suggest, are a small minority of Christians in the country.
Given the level of control by the government over the church, this may be a good idea to obtain a Bible from unofficial sources even if Bibles may be legally obtained from certain sources in the country.