Totalitarians Fear the Bible 

A Bible in a believer’s hands can be incredibly powerful. A Bible can transform an individual’s life, a whole community, or a nation. There is no accounting what doors will be opened by God’s Word let loose. He is, after all, ‘able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine’ (Ephesians 3:20).

Bible Access

Perhaps this is the fear in the nations named on the Bible Access List. Founded by Open Doors International and the Digital Bible Society, the list identifies the countries where access to Scripture is most restricted and Bible shortages are most severe.

The research upon which the list is based examined multiple factors including church growth, literacy rates, infrastructure challenges, import restrictions, printing limitations, ownership laws, and the impact of violent attacks on Bible access.

After several years of research, including many hundreds of interviews with country and mission experts, the data reveals an alarming reality: persecution and Bible access are intimately connected.

Restriction list

There are 88 countries identified as placing some form of restriction on access to the Bible. Nearly half of all members of the United Nations restrict access to Scripture. These range from minimal restrictions to extreme restrictions. Of the 15 countries with extreme restrictions, 14 are Muslim. Among those imposing the most extreme restrictions it is only Communist North Korea that is a non-Muslim state.

The data reveals an alarming reality: persecution and Bible access are intimately connected.

The Bible Access List highlights where Bible access is blocked by law, the actions of religious extremists or other non-state actors or even one’s own extended families, as well as limitations due to socio-economic indicators. The Bible Shortage List estimates how many Christians still want a Bible but don’t yet have one.

The top five countries on the Bible Restrictions List are:

1.      Somalia
2.      Afghanistan
3.      Yemen
4.      North Korea
5.      Mauritania

The top five countries on the Bible Shortage List are:

1.      Democratic Republic of Congo (by 10million)
2.      Nigeria (by 10million)
3.      Ethiopia (by 10million)
4.      India (by 10million)
5.      China (by 5-10million)

‘Where Christians face the greatest persecution, they also face the greatest barriers to accessing God’s Word,’ says Open Doors US CEO Ryan Brown. ‘This isn’t coincidence – it’s strategy. Oppressive governments, extremist groups and local actors such as extended families understand that cutting off believers from Scripture weakens their faith and fractures their communities.’

Main strategies

There are three main strategies in use by which governments and terrorist groups restrict access to Bibles.

Very often, people who identify as ‘Christian’ but lack the biblical foundation to resist cultural pressure are swept away. 

The first is cultural pressure. Very often, people who identify as ‘Christian’ but lack the biblical foundation to resist cultural pressure are swept away. Lack of foundational teaching can cause a vestigial faith to crumble under social pressure, which is often considerable. In many of the countries on the list social pressure, ranging from disapproval to honour killing, is rife and supported by governmental actions. Possession of a Bible can be a dangerous, even life-threatening act.

Next comes government actions which force churches underground, creating desperate hunger for Scripture. In Algeria, eighth on the list, all Protestant churches have been forced to cease operations. Believers in North Korea, fourth on the list, risk imprisonment with their entire families if they are found to own or share a single page torn from the Gospel of St John. Meanwhile in China, at 25 on the list, once-tolerated unregistered churches are increasingly targeted with buildings being destroyed and pastors imprisoned.

Thirdly, violence against Christians directly targets Bible distribution networks. As persecution intensifies globally, churches are burned, Christian bookstores destroyed, and pastors who distribute Bibles are imprisoned or killed — systematically cutting off believers from Scripture access.

Since 2021, the UK has contributed more than £46million to provide non-lethal logistical support to Somali Security Forces. 

Somalia

The number one country on the Bible Access List for restricting the use or distribution of Bibles is Somalia. Sharia law is upheld across the nation both by the state and the Al-Shabbab terrorist group. Converts living in areas under the control of Al-Shabaab are most at risk. Those discovered are immediately publicly executed.

Those living in areas under government control fare little better. Christians receive no protection from the state and are often harassed by government officials. Conversion to Christianity is illegal and ideological targeting of Christians is an ever-present danger. Christians are forced to practise their faith in secret, isolated from other secret believers.

Yet since 2021, the UK has contributed more than £46million to provide non-lethal logistical support to Somali Security Forces. The UK taxpayer has provided nearly £102.5million to support the reimbursement of African Union troops operating in that country. Through its government the UK taxpayer is subsidising and striving to keep in power a government which violently oppresses Christians.

China

Among the most serious cases is China, a country applying ‘severe restrictions’ on Christians. The Prime Minister states he is ‘vindicated’ by his rapprochement with China due to some restrictions on parliamentarians being lifted. Meanwhile China’s state control, direct government intervention, and social surveillance mechanisms are used against Christians.

Things are unlikely to get better. In the estimation of Cardinal Joseph Zen, the Catholic Bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, ‘the age of the catacombs is back’: the faithful must ‘return to the catacombs’.

The Bible is a clear threat to authoritarians everywhere, whether Muslim, Communist or any other form. 

Cardinal Zen has said that in China religious worship is not only strictly regulated, but that the state-authorised form of worship turns too readily into worship of the state. He discourages attending these official churches and urges believers to practise their faith freely, remaining ‘faithful to the truth that makes us free’.

A higher authority

The Bible is a clear threat to authoritarians everywhere, whether Muslim, Communist or any other form. Christianity is seen as a direct threat by the authorities, so Christians face close monitoring and tight controls.

God expects us to take individual responsibility for our actions and promises mercy to those who take personal responsibility (Proverbs 28:13). At the end of the day every human being will have to give an account for his or her life and actions to God (Galatians 6:4-5; II Corinthians 5:10). 

This speaks of a higher authority than any government and is why authoritarians everywhere restrict Bibles where they can.

(Image by Piotr from Pixabay)

This article first appeared in TCW (Defending Freedom)