China Confiscates Bibles at Airport

Here’s a fine God-related piece of news just ripe for a Sunday blog post. It sounds like bad news, but it may actually be very, very good news. It depends on how the press handles it. The Chinese government has confiscated over 300 Bibles from several Christian missionaries at the Kunming airport!

Why is that good news? Because it exposes the Chicoms for what they are. Totalitarians who deny citizens and visitors their basic human rights.

Don’t get the idea that taking a Bible away isn’t a serious act of oppression. Freedom of religion is one of the most fundamental human rights. It’s not a trifle. Taking it away is just as serious as taking away freedom of expression. Which the Chinese also deny their people. Imagine the hysteria that would erupt if an American policeman confiscated hundreds of Bibles.

Christians aren’t the only ones who spreading this story. The shameless socialists at the Associated Press wrote it up. Here’s a link.

Money quotes:

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.

And:

China faces routine criticism for its human rights violations and its repression of religious freedom. Religious practice is heavily regulated by the Communist Party, with worship allowed only in party-controlled churches, temples and mosques, while those gathering outside face harassment, arrest and terms in labor camps or prison.

Hold a prayer meeting, go to jail. That’s unfettered leftism for you. The elites have decided it is a certainty God does not exist. You are not entitled to make up your own mind. Leftism is such a kind religion; a few people at the top make all the important decisions, preventing ignorant, untrained ordinary citizens from getting things wrong, and taking the heavy weight of autonomy off their liberated shoulders. This is the beautiful gift George Clooney and Barbra Streisand and Al Gore want to give you. Of course, prominent socialists like these would continue living like capitalists, because the left-wing illuminati are special and need power and wealth in order to spread joy and enlightenment.

I’m so glad the Chinese got the Olympics, and that the games are casting a bright spotlight on their sins. The world needs to remember that a few KFCs and Burger Kings do not a democracy make. Maybe a little public shaming will persuade the Chinese to loosen their grip on the church. Why is it such a big threat to them? Christians believe in hard work, obeying the law, patriotism, and paying their taxes. It would be a real blow to the revolution if those things caught on.

Look how the Chinese government treats Bibles. They treat them like methadone, which is appropriate, considering Karl Marx’s fatuous “opiate” remark. They print China’s Bibles, and they distribute them. The story says they sanction churches. The other side of that coin is that they prohibit all other churches and pastors. A license isn’t permission for the holder, although it may seem that way. It’s a ban for everyone else. Before the US had driver’s licenses, everyone could drive. Licensing didn’t increase the pool of drivers. It shrank it. And China’s church licensing shrinks the church. That’s the reason China does it. They have turned worship into a prescription drug, used to manage a destructive addiction, and they don’t allow the manufacture of generics.

Evangelism is so important, and I don’t think we do nearly enough of it. I always write about religious charities I’ve found, and it’s always exciting to find a new one I like. But it has been harder to find organizations that evangelize effectively. That is especially sad, in a time when the Internet and cell phones and satellites make it impossible for Muslims and atheists to keep the gospel out of their countries. It used to be that smuggling was required, in order to get religious materials into oppressed hands. Now you can send a single DVD into a socialist country, with an Adobe-format Bible on it, and it can be duplicated millions of times and sent to countless locations, at no cost. There are broadcasts that reach into Muslim and socialist countries. People just need to know how to tune them in. This ought to be evangelism’s most powerful era. Maybe it is; I wouldn’t know how to find out. It’s something we need to support. When it comes to transforming the world, religion is the most powerful force there is. Far stronger than politics.

I’m glad I found out about Open Doors and Secret Believers.

Let’s hope the Chinese continue giving the world horrifying glimpses of their government’s true nature.