As UCA News reported on 22 September 2020, an
ethics textbook for secondary vocational schools has changed the ending of the Biblical account of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery (to be found in the New Testament, Gospel of John, Chapter 8).
Thomas Muller, persecution analyst for World Watch Research, explains: "According to the report, in the Communist version of the story, Jesus does not protect and forgive the adulteress, instead he waits for the Pharisees to leave and then stones her himself, saying: "˜I too am a sinner. But if the law could only be executed by men without blemish, the law would be dead". Since schoolbooks have to go through a highly scrutinized process before being published (and as the publisher is the government-run University of Electronic Science and Technology Press), the Chinese authorities must have seen and approved this version. This is not only of interest because it completely alters the outcome of the biblical story and misrepresents the very essence of Christian faith, the forgiveness of sin through God"s grace; the new version in fact commands people to obey even corrupt and faulty leaders without question, as a
commentator rightly observed (Bitter Winter, 4 October 2020)."
Thomas Muller adds a word of caution: "While this incident is shocking, one should still be
wary of claiming that the Communist Party (CCP) wants to re-write the whole Christian Bible (China Source, 26 August 2020). Even if this was the case, it is not clear how it could possibly be put into practice: There are millions of genuine Bibles in circulation in China, as well as the fact that China is home to the largest Bible printing press in the world (for export purposes). It is much more likely that the CCP‚ will aim to "˜Sinicize" the Bible, altering not the basic text but its interpretation, to better fit the Party"s needs and purposes. Tweaking the interpretation is likely to be far more "˜acceptable" than altering key passages in a holy book. If this approach is combined with a strong Communist influence in theological seminaries and an increasing surveillance and control of (Sunday) sermons, this is a more promising way of compromising the Christian message, albeit still without a guarantee of success. Seen in this light, changing one biblical story in an ethics book may have been a testing balloon. In any case, all such efforts deserve close attention."
