HONG KONG (UCAN): Catholics in mainland China are upset about the distortion of a Bible story in a school textbook, which quotes the story of Jesus forgiving the sins of the woman caught in adultery from the Gospel of John, but perverts it.
The textbook, published by the government-run University of Electronic Science and Technology Press, aims to teach “professional ethics and law” to the students of secondary vocational schools.
In the gospel story, the crowd wanted to stone the woman to death as per their law, but Jesus said, ‘Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone.’ Hearing this, they slipped away one by one.
However in the textbook, after the crowed disappeared Jesus stoned the sinner to death saying, “I too am a sinner. But if the law could only be executed by men without blemish, the law would be dead.” the textbook said.
One person who uploaded a copy of the textbook on social media said the distortion was an insult to the Catholic Church.
“I want everyone to know that the Chinese Communist Party has always tried to distort the history of the Church, to slander our Church, and to make people hate our Church,” his post said.
Mathew Wang, a Christian teacher at a vocational school, confirmed the content but said the content varies from place to place within China.
He added that the controversial book was reviewed by the Textbook Review Committee for Moral Education in Secondary Vocational Education.
Wang said that the authors had used the wrong example to attempt justify Chinese socialist laws.
Some Catholics said the authors want to prove that rule by law is supreme in China and that respect for law is essential for a smooth transfer to socialism with Chinese characteristics.
One Catholic priest, who requested anonymity, said that distorting the original text itself “is against morality and the law, so how can we still teach professional ethics with this book?”
He added, “It is a sad social phenomenon in mainland China.”
Paul, a Catholic, remarked that several similar distortions of Christian life and history keep happening but that protests will have no impact.
“The same pattern has been repeated every year but the Church has never fought back or received the respect and apology it deserves,” he said Paul.
Kama, who manages the social media account of a Catholic group, said the textbook’s content violates religious beliefs and authors and publishers must publicly correct it and apologise.
“We hope that Church authorities will come forward and speak up for the Church,” Kama said.
