范華平

Nov. 9—China Thursday slammed media reports as “a total rumor” that the Bible would be prohibited at next years Beijing Olympic Games.

The Catholic News Agency published a report the Bible will be banned in the Olympic Village, citing an Italian newspaper.

“As far as I know, Chinese religious affairs authorities and the Beijing Olympic organizers did not and would not issue such a rule and this is a total rumor,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Thursday.

“According to the Chinese laws, foreigners are allowed to bring in religious objects or materials, be it in print or audio or video, for personal use.” And there would be no change in the legal decree during the Olympic Games next year, Liu said at a regular press briefing Thursday.

Rights of religious freedom in China, which also apply to foreigners who live in the country, are protected by the Chinese Constitution and relevant laws, the spokesman said.

Li Zhanjun, director of the Beijing Olympics media center Thursday also condemned the report, saying it was an intentional distortion of the truth.

Li said that a religious service center will be set up in the Olympic Village and religious services, from Christian, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu to Buddhist, will be available to athletes next summer.

A temporary Catholic church will also be set up in the Olympic Village and all churches in Beijing will be open to Catholic visitors, Liu Bainian, vice-president of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, said.

Religious services and information will be available in Beijing and each of the six co-host cities, Ye Xiaowen, director of the State Administration of Religious Affairs, told China Daily last month.

China has so far published more than 42 million copies of the Bible in various languages, according to Ye.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman added: “There are always some people who do not want to see China host a successful Olympic Games. This is against the wishes of the people all over the world, as this is a grand gala for them”.

11月9日——中國于星期四抨擊媒體關(guān)于明年北京奧運會禁止使用《圣經(jīng)》的報道“純屬謠言”。

天主教通訊社引用意大利一家報紙的文章，發(fā)表了一篇“奧運村禁用《圣經(jīng)》”的報道。

中國外交部發(fā)言人劉建超星期四表示，“據(jù)我所知，中國主管宗教部門和北京奧組委沒有也不可能做出所謂奧運村禁用《圣經(jīng)》的規(guī)定?！?/p>

劉建超在星期四的例行記者招待會說，“根據(jù)中國的法律，外國人進入中國國境可以攜帶本人自用的宗教印刷品、宗教音像制品和其他宗教用品。”這項法律條文在明年的奧運會上也不會有所改變。

發(fā)言人說，在中國宗教信仰自由受到憲法和相關(guān)法律的保護，這同樣適用于在華的外國人。

北京奧組委新聞中心主任李占軍譴責這種報道是蓄意歪曲事實。

李表示，奧運村將建立宗教服務(wù)中心，同時，明年夏天將設(shè)立基督教、天主教、穆斯林、猶太教、印度教和佛教的宗教服務(wù)設(shè)施。

中國天主教愛國會副秘書長劉百年透露，奧運村將設(shè)立一個臨時教堂，北京的所有教堂都向天主教參觀者開放。

國管局負責宗教事務(wù)的管理部門總干事葉小文上個月告訴《中國日報》的記者，北京和六個主辦城市都會提供宗教服務(wù)和宗教信息。

葉說，目前，中國已出版了不同語言的《圣經(jīng)》42,000,000本。

外交部發(fā)言人補充道：“世界上確實有一些人，不希望中國能夠成功舉辦奧運會。這種做法是同有著善良意愿的世界人民作對，因為這次奧運會是世界人民的盛會?！?/p>