August 19, 2008

KUNMING, YUNNAN PROVINCE, CHINA (ANS) -- A group of American Christians who had more than 300 Chinese Bibles confiscated by officials when they arrived in China is refusing to leave Kunming International Airport until they get the books back.

According to a news release from the China Aid Association (CAA), the four American Christians arrived at 3 p.m. Beijing Time from the U.S. via Thailand. Each carried about 75 to 80 study Bibles for Chinese pastors.

The names of the four are Pat Klein, 46, from Wyoming, Forrest Higginbotham, 78, from Indiana), Higginbotham's grandson Stephen Constantinou, 15, from New Jersey and Steve Nichols, 60, from New York.

According to Klein, each of them was fined for 400 U.S. dollars for the overweight luggage with the Bibles. The Chinese customs officials told the four Americans that their all of their Bibles were confiscated as “illegal religious literature.”

“The Chinese leaders keep telling the world the Chinese people have religious freedom. To even prevent them from receiving Bibles certainly contradicts that claim,” the news release said Klein told CAA President Bob Fu in a telephone interview.

Klein’s Sheridan, Wyoming-based group Vision Beyond Borders distributes Bibles and Christian teaching materials around the world.

Chinese authority allows limited numbers of Bibles, and they are only available at officially sanctioned churches. The sale of Bibles is forbidden in public bookstores.

“I appeal to the Chinese government to release those confiscated Bibles to the four individuals who deeply care about the Chinese believers,” Fu said in the news release. “I urge the international Christian community to pray for the four courageous fellow brothers for their safety in China.”

Copyright 2008 ASSIST News Service