Let the games begin

Olympics: The summer Olympics, set to open Aug. 8, are filled with inspirational athletes and great stories. But what many hoped would be the best Olympic story of all, the liberalizing of host nation China, hasn’t happened yet | Mark Bergin

Cruel summer

Are the Olympic Games effecting change in China? Ask Federation House Church chairman Bike Zhang and his wife, after Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers forced them from their home July 6 and made them live on the streets, harassing and threatening any hotels or friends willing to offer shelter. According to reports from China Aid, government officials justify their actions as a response to Zhang having "met the Americans and destroyed the harmony of the Beijing Olympic Games."

That kind of totalitarian action hardly squares with the public face China is presenting to the visiting world. The Beijing Olympic organizing committee has opened the door for the free circulation of Bibles in the Olympic village. The British Bible Society in partnership with China-based Amity Printing Company has plans to distribute 50,000 Gospel booklets, 30,000 New Testaments, and 10,000 complete Bibles, an unprecedented allowance from a government that remains hostile to Chinese Christians.