Beijing, China, Aug 18, 2008 / 15:24 pm
Four members of a Christian group from the United States are refusing to leave a Chinese airport until authorities return the 300 Bibles confiscated from them.
The four members of the Wyoming-based group Vision Beyond Borders, which supplies Bibles and other Christian material to people in China and other countries, arrived in the southwestern city of Kunming on Sunday. The Bibles they were carrying were confiscated after customs officials discovered them during an X-ray scan of their luggage, CNN reports.
Pat Klein, director of Vision Beyond Borders, said the group distributes the Bibles through a local shop owner in Kunming. Klein said he has been bringing Bibles into China for 21 years but did not know he was breaking Chinese law.
According to CNN, Chinese law prohibits bringing printed religious material into the country exceeding the amount needed for personal use.
Chinese officials told the group members they had broken the law and repeatedly asked them to leave the airport, but the group spent the night there, Klein said, adding that the customs agents have not been antagonistic.
Klein said the Vision Beyond Borders members would not leave until their Bibles are returned.