An Olympic Bible Blunder
November 9, 2007
If you're reading this post, chances are you've read either this story or this one. In a nutshell, there were reports circulating that the Beijing Olympic committee was going to ban Bibles in the Olympic village. Days later, the Olympic Committee adamantly denied the accusations.
The initial reports caused significant concern amongst citizens worldwide, even resulting in a call from Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) to Chinese Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong. The alleged Bible ban also disturbed Olympic officials, and Li Zhanjun, the director of the Beijing Olympics media center, considers the story "an intentional distortion of the truth," probably started by individuals wanting to sabotage the Games.
At first blush, it might seem like the Bible ban incident was just a miscommunication, and we now have business as usual. While this specific story will soon blow over, it's a perfect example of the escalating tensions and uncertain expectations between the Chinese hosts and international Christians.
Even though the Olympics are designed to be a time when the world comes together, they can also play an additional role of highlighting cultural differences and misunderstandings.
Many throughout the international community perceive China to be extremely hostile to all religious believers, which is why a story this extreme was picked up by so many media outlets. While China hasn't had the most popular track record when it comes to issues of religious freedoms, if you think about it, banning Olympic Bibles would be extremely stupid.
Why on earth would Beijing, which has invested over $60 billion dollars on improvements to the city, tarnish the Games with such a policy as prohibiting athletes from having Bibles? The city is even distributing Bibles in hotel rooms during the Games, so why would they take them away from the athletes?
Furthermore, even if China prevented visitors from bringing personal Bibles to the country (which it doesn't), would the Olympic committee stand for a Bible ban in the Olympic village? The village will even be hosting religious services for multiple religious groups.
On the other hand, though Bibles and religious objects will NOT be banned from the Olympic village, the Beijing hosts aren't welcoming any religious believer to distribute materials and proselytize throughout the nation. In fact, Olympic spokesman Sun Weide and others have readily discouraged it, though several international religious organizations want to use the Games as a time to promote evangelical outreaches throughout Beijing.
Many Christian groups say Beijing hasn't gone far enough to promote religious freedom and want to use the Games to blitz the city with Christian materials. On the other side of the spectrum, the Beijing officials feel they're doing all they can to promote religious tolerance at the Games, with gestures such as religious services and placing Bibles in hotels.
Li Zhanjun's accusations that the distributor of the Bible ban article was sabotaging the Games reiterates the value of how desperately the government does not want to lose face on account of accusations of religious intolerance.
While many international Christians might sense that the small Olympic window is their only chance to minister effectively in China, in the long term, I wonder if an evangelistic approach that would completely disrespect the Chinese government might ultmately hurt their cause.
They might view the Olympics as their primary opportunity to do ministry in China, so they want to make the most of it. However, if they don't use this opportunity prudently, the doors that should be warmly welcoming them back might instead close firmly behind them.
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