China halts shipment of Bibles from Vision Beyond Borders
The Americans are stopped at an airport in Kunming. They say the won't leave until they get their 300 copies back.
By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 18, 2008
BEIJING -- An American Christian group that was stopped at the airport when it tried to bring in more than 300 Bibles won't leave the customs zone until it gets the books back, its leader said today. The four Americans, led by Pat Klein of the Wyoming-based Vision Beyond Borders, said they were convinced officials wanted them to leave the Kunming airport in southern China without the Bibles, preventing their distribution.
"We paid a lot to come here and bring them," Klein said in a telephone interview from the customs area, where the four have been since Sunday. "We're not bringing in contraband, drugs, evil stuff. We're just bringing in Bibles." the rest
posted by Pat Dague @ 9:35 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
It's a shame there are people like this, who refuse to respect the law by smuggling - against Jesus' admonition to obey the law of the land.
The article states...
"Klein (the director of Vision Beyond Borders) said he's been bringing Bibles into China for 21 years and had no idea he was breaking Chinese law."
This is either an outright LIE, or the director is mentally disturbed. He is a smuggler for 21 years and didn't think to ask anyone about the law? I believe that he knows the law, and chooses to be a criminal.
The CNN article also states...
"We're being inconvenienced a little, but it's nothing compared to what our brothers and sisters in China experience for their faith in Jesus Christ," Klein said."
Klein needs to read a bit of recent history before he makes outrageous statements like this.
The fact is, NO country has suffered more at the hands of the Christian religion than China.
Christianity was forcibly introduced in China by the Opium Smugglers. This eventually resulted in a civil war when the Christians tried to wipe out Buddhism, Confucianism, and all other differing systems of thought. This is known as the Taipeng Rebellion and between 20 and 30 MILLION innocent people were killed simply because they did not believe in Jesus.
Please respect China's laws and the individuals right to protection from overt proselytizing - and feel free to pray in your closet.
China knows clearly the danger in allowing total ‘freedom of religion’.
A Son of the American Revolution
As a professional in the global customs business for the last 25 years, I believe I can give my opinion without appearing to judge between right or wrong.
Bringing in 300 pieces of anything, anywhere in the world is considered an act of import, not entering a country with personal belongings of a traveller.
In almost all of the 190 countries that are signatories to the WCO (World Customs Organisation), books are just one more commodity to be imported, even if they are books that are considered holy to some.
Bringing in 300 books usually requires the minimum of a Customs declaration and in many countries books, although duty-free, are charged with VAT, be it at a low rate.
It is quite arrogant and supposedly morally superior to show up at a foreign airport with merchandise and then "demand" to be allowed through.
A quick verification with a Chamber of Commerce or embassy prior to departure could have saved these people a lot of trouble.
Astonishing also to find newspapers are picking this up without reflecting the lagal requirements that, in this case, do not differ that much from those in the US or Europe. Try entering the US with 300 Quran's or a European country with 300 Torah's. One would find quick enough that certain things are simply done by the book (pun intended) or not at all.
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