China confiscates Bibles from American Christians at the airport?

Question

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080817/ap_on_re_as/china_bibles_confiscated;_ylt=AjD429fMOEXLyz5s7MW.SVzjOrgF

Good, I'm glad... China keep up the good work. This white American part-time christian feels glad that you confiscated the bibles. And, I don't blame your for trying to keep the religious BS out of your country.. Religion is at the heart of all turmoil in the world.. You should have arrested those bible thumping idiots. Anyone agree?

Answer 1

I think this breaks 2 of China's law.

Firstly the distribution of religious material if it was outside the church then its a no no.

And the second one that the Bill of rights can do nothing about if I reminder correctly..

Which is that you are only allow to bring in a set amount of printed material through customs freely for your own use. Some how I don't think 300 copies of the same book counts as personal use.

Answer 2

Jxdy11

Stupendous answer. And I also like to add that that "We didn't come to cause trouble, we just came to bring Bibles to help out the Chinese Christians." is a lie because Chinese Christians has been distributed personal Bibles in Chinese for years. He is referring to the underground Chinese Christians who is unwilling to go to state-controlled Churches. I don't know why they don't like it and this is a prevention that religion will not gone completely insane ie: Warren Steed Jeffs who molested a 10 years old girl.

Finally it is Christians who does not have religious freedom. Religious freedom should be what people WANT to belief not forcing someone to belief.

Answer 3

I totally agree.  If the Chinese sent communist propaganda into this country because they thought they were bringing salvation to our people and there were 1% of our population who said they desperately needed it, we would arrest the mercenaries and they would never be heard of again.

But when Americans bring American propaganda to China because we think we are bringing salvation to their country, well, we are the righteous and persecuted ones.  We yell censorship and yet deny that we do that ourselves.  What hypocrites.  How arrogant.  I'm not a fan of American propaganda myself.  While I'm against censorship and book burning, I think we, as Americans, should clean up our own back yard first and work on the rest of the world when we've "removed the beam from our own eye before trying to remove the splinter from our neighbor's".  Ya think???

Answer 4

Judy, you left out a few things :

China does not allow anyone under 18 to attend church.   The state-controlled church does not preach the same message one would hear in a church that exercises religious freedom.

And while the printing press may be "the largest in the world", before you get a copy, there simply are not enough copies to be given to the 1.5 billion Chinese.  If you are fortunate to receive a copy, there are still other restrictions and conditions, such as registered the name of your Christian friends for the State to keep on file.

Thousands of Chinese are in prisons and camps for exercising their "religious freedom".   We in the West are simply not given the whole truth.  

As for the individual asking the question :

You're right.   A lot of wrong has been done in the name of religion.  But let's not be closed minded, either.

Orphanages, hospitals, charities to benefit tsunami, hurricane and tornado victims, homeless shelters, relief assistance to the poor, and so on.   All done in the name of faith, as well.

I am grateful I live in a society where I can express myself without someone knocking on my door in the dead of night and hauling me away to an unknown fate.

And, I am thankful that I am surrounded by those who are practicing their faith by helping and loving those less fortunate than themselves.

Answer 5

I read the news story. In it, it says that the group arrived in China on Sunday, and that "Klein told the AP in a telephone interview while still at the airport".  

Obviously, they did this with the intention of making the news. This guy already had the AP ready to go on the phone. Now if he was just a bible distributer, would he know offhand, while at the airport, what number to call to reach AP news service?

Answer 6

Great answer, Jxdy!!!  Nicely put.

Answer 7

They're gonna DISTRIBUTE the bibles to local people.

Although I don't agree about banning any books, including the bibles, I do feel that "some" christians like to force their belief on others.

Answer 8

hello sir.

last time i checked america had this thing called the bill of rights and that says that nobody can be prejudiced against because of their religion.

I truely don't believe that the chinese had any right to confiscate the bibles.  it is that sort of religious persicution that caused world war 2.

plus the fact that they had it doesn't mean that they were going to go around making people believe what they believe.

the chinese need to get their heads out of their asses and realize that people do have freedom to believe whatever they want and be whatever they want.

Answer 9

You don't know anything about China do you? China allows religious freedom, in fact, the people can believe in whatever religion they fancy. Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Taoism, Christianity, Catholicism. HOWEVER, the people were bringing bibles. They were planning to distribute them to not just the Chinese Christians, but also people of other religions. People should be given freedom over their religion of their choice. For heaven's sake, how old are you? Are you so blind to realize that not RELIGION is at the heart of all turmoil in the world, but IGNORANCE is at the heart of all turmoil in the world? I'm talking about you, by the way. Because you're IGNORANT, you are the one who causes turmoil in this world.  

Answer 10

mariah.hoosier, shut the h**l up...

I feel that they should have confiscated those bibles.

Point is, if you're in another country, respect its rules...

Answer 11

There's a very basic understanding of religious freedom that most Westerners fail to understand about China.

1. China allows religious freedom. Anyone can believe whatever they want, as long as it isn't something that harms the country.

2. There are Christian churches, Islamic mosques, Buddhist temples all over the place in China. Minority populations practice their own religions as well.

3. China does not allow preaching. This is why they don't allow people to come in with a ton of Bibles or for them to distribute it to others in the streets. In other words, believe whatever you want, but don't try to force others to believe the same. If someone else wants to learn, they'll come to you. For someone like me, I completely appreciate this. I absolutely hate it when Christians get in my face and try to "convert" me, telling me I'm going to h**l for believing in no god. That's great, keep it to yourself.

In conclusion, if you're a Christian, you can continue being a Christian in China. You can keep a Bible, a personal one, no one's going to take that away from you. You can go to church as often as you like. However, if you come into China with the intention of converting people, then think again.

White Shooting Star: Thanks :)

Answer 12

Those idiots deserved it. Why aren't they smart enough to look at a list of rules?