Persecution Complex
Tim Challies mentioned a story from the Telegraph that piqued my interest. The story is of a British stewardess who was told she could not bring her Bible with her on flights to Saudi Arabia. While the Foreign Office in Britain may not cringe when it writes these words, it certainly strikes fear into my heart:
The importation and use of narcotics, alcohol, pork products and religious books, apart from the Koran, and artefacts are forbidden.
The reason why this causes such fear in my heart is that it has historical parallels. In Japan, before the “opening” of the country, the Dutch had exclusive trade relations with Japan. One of stipulations of this trade agreement was that there would be no Bibles brought into the country. The typical practice was to take all of the Bibles that were on board a ship and place them into a barrel and seal it before arriving. The more the world changes, the more the same strong-arm tactics stay the same.
More reading: Status of religious freedom in Saudi Arabia (from wikipedia)