The Chinese government has given permission for distribution of booklets of the Gospels, New Testaments, and full Bibles during the Olympic Games, even though it normally controls publication of the Bible.

An edition of 50,000 bilingual booklets containing the four Gospels will be made available in the Athletes’ Village in Beijing and five other Olympic Cities. Additionally, 10,000 New Testaments and 30,000 Bibles will be printed. The Beijing Olympics organizing committee is allowing the free use of its logo on the Scriptures.

The nearly US$400,000 cost of printing the Olympic Bibles will be met by the Bible Societies. The Bibles themselves will be printed by Amity Printing Press at a new multimillion dollar facility which opened in Nanjing last month. Amity produces one Bible every second. It produced its 50 millionth in September.

During China’s Cultural Revolution Bibles were banned and confiscated. Bible printing in China resumed in the 1980s with the assistance of Bible Societies from around the world.

Christians in China can own Bibles, but they still face persecution if they practice Christianity outside of registered churches. According to the Times Online, a June report from Christian Solidarity Worldwide and the China Aid Association said there has been a recent crackdown on “house churches” and claimed foreign Christians are being expelled at a rate “not seen since the 1950s.”

Olympic athletes and visitors will be allowed to take religious materials into the Olympic Village for their own use.