China declares Bible its chief competitor

According to the official rules for athletes released by Beijing for the upcoming 2008 Olympics, visitors are restricted from bringing more than one Bible into China.

While this itself is not particularly surprising, what is interesting is that this ban makes the "top of the list". The official web page (see here) list the basics of travel to China. The page contains several expected items, such as information on restrictions of those will contagious diseases, needed travel documents, and the like. Yet on this page the Chinese government felt it necessary to specifically mention Bibles. No other book is mentioned, nor are "books" in general referred to. Furthermore, no other religious scripture (Koran, etc) is referred to.

What would cause such fear? According to Martin Lee (of Hong Kong), who was quoted in the New York Sun on this issue, the Chinese are afraid of Christianity. He states, "As a Catholic, I don't mind dying. I go up to heaven. I know somebody is up there, guiding me." It is the fear of sentiments like that that no doubt explains why Chinese Communist authorities would try to keep the Bible out of their country. Once it gets in, there is no telling where the ideas will spread or what will be the consequences".

Let China compete against the Bible. Let it throw all its political, economic, and military might against it. The Bible won't win the Gold anyway...it is the Gold!