"Visitors to Beijing Olympics advised: take no more than one Bible", Catholic News Agency, November 7, 2007Making a slight change to its total ban on religious items, the Chinese Olympic Committee has decided, "devotional objects” will be allowed in compliance with Chinese "freedom of religion" laws, but “religious objects meant to propagate a cult” will not be permitted.
The article goes on to cite The Cardinal Kung Foundation without any further note of exactly what it is. I guess if you're reading releases published by the Catholic News Agency, you're supposed to know who they are.
The website of the
Cardinal Kung Foundation identifies itself as
The underground Roman Catholic community in China. Interestingly, it is headquartered in
Stamford, CT., causing me to immediately wonder if they are Cantonese or Mandarin, and before anyone accuse me of being prejudicial, a citation used in the article,
taken straight from the website, clearly divides Christians up into separate categories:
The Chinese government severely and systematically persecutes members of China's spiritual communities, including Roman Catholics, Protestants, Evangelical Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, and members of the Falun Gong movement.
I also find it interesting that they specify Uighur Muslims. I wonder if different Muslim sects exist within the Uighur populations.
Also of interest, and amusing, is the Google ad link that appeared at the bottom of the article:
Mail a Bible to China
You can mail Bibles from your home to Communist and Muslim nations.
The site is called
Bibles Unbound, and it requests people sign up for a $30 a month membership automatically charged to your credit card or debited from your bank account. I didn't delve too deeply into the site, but it was less than outwardly forthcoming regarding which version of the Bible it sends, and which Christian sect the site represents. It is based in Oklahoma.
That adds a bit of understanding to the Chinese government's claim of cult propagation mentioned in the Catholic News Agency article.