wfn.org | [APD] China to permit Bible distribution to athletes at Olympics

[Christian B. Schäffler <APD@stanet.ch>]

[APD] China to permit Bible distribution to athletes at Olympics

>July 20, 2008

>Adventist Press Service [APD]

>Christian B. Schaeffler,

>Editor-in-chief

>Fax +41-61-261 61 18

><mailto:APD@stanet.ch> APD@stanet.ch

<http://www.stanet.ch/APD> http://www.stanet.ch/APD

>CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

China to permit Bible distribution to athletes at Olympics

Beijing/China. [APD]   The Chinese government has given permission for
distribution of booklets of the Gospels, New Testaments, and full Bibles
during the Olympic Games, even though it normally controls publication  of
the Bible.

An edition of 50,000 bilingual booklets containing the four Gospels will  be
made available in the Athletes? Village in Beijing and five other  Olympic
Cities. Additionally, 10,000 New Testaments and 30,000 Bibles will be
printed. The Beijing Olympics organizing committee is allowing the free  use
of its logo on the Scriptures.

The nearly US$400,000 cost of printing the Olympic Bibles will be met by  the
Bible Societies. The Bibles themselves will be printed by Amity Printing
Press at a new multimillion dollar facility which opened in Nanjing last
month. Amity produces one Bible every second. It produced its 50  millionth
in September.

During China?s Cultural Revolution Bibles were banned and confiscated.  Bible
printing in China resumed in the 1980s with the assistance of Bible
Societies from around the world.

Christians in China can own Bibles, but they still face persecution if  they
practice Christianity outside of registered churches. According to the  Times
Online, a June report from Christian Solidarity Worldwide and the China  Aid
Association said there has been a recent crackdown on ?house  churches? and
claimed foreign Christians are being expelled at a rate ?not seen  since the
1950s.?

Olympic athletes and visitors will be allowed to take religious  materials
into the Olympic Village for their own use.

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>http://www.stanet.ch/apd/news/1850.html

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