Brian Kim

Ms. Rochman
World Literature II Honors
January 3rd 2016
The Most Persecuted Book
The most read book around the world is the Bible. People of different faiths from atheists
to non-believers have read the Bible for multiple reasons. There are as many atheists who read
the Bible as many Christians. Even though it is a popular and religious book, it was not favored
by all. Throughout the existence of the Bible, it has been banned, censored and prohibited mainly
for religious disagreements, heresy and controversial views. It was questioned by many, causing
many arguments that exist even today, with old Bible manuscripts as the pieces of evidence.
From long ago in the English Catholic church to the current times in places such as North Korea,
the Bible has been disagreed with, over-analyzed, persecuted and even burnt. People in faith
have been persecuted for owning a Bible and multiple translators faced numerous consequences
for their devotions. Overall, although the Bible did have its supporters, it was controversial to
many for its ancient text and ideas.
The English Catholic Church was one of the many who did not agree with the ideas of the
Bible. In 1536, William Tyndale, the first person to translate the Bible into English from Hebrew,
was arrested by authorities in Antwerp, Belgium. His translation of the New Testament was
smuggled and publically burned in England. He was tried for heresy and was strangled and
burned at stake. Tyndale was not the only translator persecuted for his faith. Translators of the
Matthew Bible and the Geneva Bible were also executed for their actions. As Tyndale was the
first person to translate the Bible into English from Hebrew, the Wycliffe Bible was believed to
be the foundation for the English Bible.

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Directed by John Wycliffe, the Wycliffe Bible had a huge impact to the other variations
of the English Bible. Wycliffes ideas were frowned upon by many as he was charged with
blasphemy, scandal, pride and heresy. Although he was supposed to be executed for his faith, he
died of a stroke, and his bones were dug up and burnt.
A term called Sola Scriptura was a phrase that was frowned upon by the Catholic Church.
The reason for that was because Protestant reformers believed that the Bible should be
understood literally and historically without interpretation by church authorities. This meant that
there would be no need for the Catholic Church, easily decreasing the purpose of the Catholic
Church and gradually ending its needs for existence.
The Europeans did not contain their faith to themselves as they spread it to other
countries as well, notably Asia. On August 15th 1549, the Jesuits, who were members of the
Roman Catholic Church, went to Japan to teach them about their faith. The Jesuit missionaries
arrived at Kagoshima and fortunately for the Jesuits, the Warlords were interested in their
teachings. On 1576, the First Christian church was established in Japan. The establishment was
supported by a man named Nobunaga. After Nobunaga died, the Catholics reported 200,000
faithful people of Japan and 250 Churches in Japan, making the missionaries successful in their
intentions. However, the success was short-lived when Toyotmi Hideyoshi banned Christianity
and crucified 26 Franciscans on 1597 in Nagasaki. Hideyoshi found the Westerners suspicious
for the huge Christian influence from the West. The next ruler Tokugasa Ieyasu, was also not in
favor of Christianity as he was concerned that Spain and Portugal were gaining too much
influence in Japan. Eventually, on 1626, missionaries were ordered to leave the country.
Christians were ordered to renounce their faith, and if not, they were to suffer terrible
punishment.

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Fast forwarding to World War II, the Japanese Bible Society was established in 1937.
However, its activities were severely restricted during World War II. After the war, from 1945 to
1948, 2,390,000 copies of the Japanese Bible were produced in the United States and presented
to the Japanese. When Japan opened its doors to the West, the Japanese at first responded
favorably to Christian evangelization, but this was followed by suspicion and rejection of
Christian teaching.
Japan was not the only Asian country that suffered religious persecution. More recently,
North Korea was well known for its general lack of freedom and its dictators. North Korea did
claim to guarantee religious freedom, but thanks to Kim Il Sung, the father of the well-known
Kim Jong Il and the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un, this is a lie since he is
responsible for the corruption of North Korea. The North Korean government does have four
authorized state churches: one Catholic Church, two Protestant churches and one Russian
Orthodox Church. However only foreigners can attend those churches as North Koreans will face
consequences for attending services.
Notable incidents happened for the act of owning a Bible and distributing Bibles, and
people will often face extreme consequences for having to do anything with the Bible. On July
2009, a Christian woman was publically executed in North Korea for distributing a Bible. To this
day, more than 30,000 North Koreans are believed to practice Christianity as they are hiding in
great risk. The U.S State Department said in a report that genuine religious freedom does not
exist in North Korea.
Although North Koreans Christians risk their lives to practice their faith, they have their
supporters outside and inside of North Korea. Bibles get inside North Korea through many ways.
They can be smuggled from different outside countries. This can be done by bribing guards or

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bravely sneaking inside the country. Another interesting method would be sending Bibles
through balloons. Countries bordering North Korea (notably South Korea) would wait for the
correct timing on the wind direction and send the Bibles through balloon transport. Bibles can
also be sent not physically but orally through broadcasting. For thirty minutes, North Korean
defectors in South Korea would broadcast the Bible into North Korean every day. What is even
smarter is that they will do this in North Korean dialect. As smart and sneaky the supporters may
be, the North Korean persecutors are not idiots. They have their own methods in catching spies,
defectors and citizens practicing their faith. Guards would shoot down the balloons that try to
make it across the border, and they would arrest anyone who would pick up the Bibles that fell.
In North Korea, everyone is required to spy on each other. That makes it hard to trust anyone in
North Korea, and the North Koreans used this method to search for any suspicious religious
activity. Agents would also pose as underground house church cells and would lure and trap
secret believers. Other agents would cross China to pose as refugees and they would seek help
from the Christian missionaries. After the trap has been released, the North Korean agents would
either kill the missionaries or take them to Chinese prisons, while actual North Korean refugees
caught will also be killed or sent into prison camps.
Lastly, the North Koreans would cleverly use kindergarten children to find Bibles.
Kindergarten children are taught to see if their parents are hiding any sort of book at home. The
North Koreans would explain this to the children as if this was some kind of game and the
objective of this game was to bring back the book. The children were told that if they brought
back a book, they would receive prizes. A child who brings back a book is to be congratulated
and they would set a great example to the other children, motivating the children to find more
Bibles and making it seem like a good deed. Afterwards, the fun is short-lived as the child will

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end up in prison camp along with their parents or the child will be given to a couple who would
be more loyal to the North Korean regime.
Christian persecution is intense in North Korea as for thirteen years, it was ranked No. 1
on the World Watch List of 50 countries where persecution is most extreme. Meeting with other
Christians is impossible and anyone engaging in unauthorized religious activity will be arrested,
put to arbitrary detention, torture and even execution.
Religion has always been a controversial topic in this world. There are varieties of books,
faiths and ways of thinking that can be argued with and challenged. The Bible was one of them,
for ever since the Christian faith existed, persecutors challenged the ideas of the Bible. The Bible
was banned, burnt, challenged, analyzed, re-translated, and censored through time and around
the world. For sure, there are things in the Bible that atheists and agnostics cannot believe or
accept, and there are things in the Bible that even religious people cannot approve. There is
always instances of false teachings, mistranslations and misinterpretations that some do not even
know what the correct version of the Bible is. Needlessly to say, the Bible had many readers in
the world, and it is no lie that there are people who suffer for owning and reading it. Not only
was it banned for its ideas, but it was also prohibited because of their strict standards in their own
religion such as North Korea, Somalia and Iraq. These countries target Christians as well, mainly
for not turning into their ideas and faith. Overall, the concept of religion has always been
complicated, for it created followers and believers, but in the process, it created persecutors,
questioners and challengers. Christianity was never meant to be an easy religion to follow and
the challenging of the Bible was one example how Christians are in difficult positions.

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My position in this would be that I find it understandable for Bibles to be banned.

Although I am a Christian, there are always mistranslations and misinterpretations of Bibles that
should not be read. Although some versions make little to no difference to me, I still would not
be surprised on how from time, countries banned the Bibles. Although the United States has its
freedom, there are countries that do not have freedom of speech and religious freedom.
Obviously as a believer, banning the Bible would be a huge toll to my faith but as a human being
with a conscience, it is entirely understandable by perspective that such religious text was
banned.