A Moscow City court has banned a holy text produced by a Chinese Christian, Witness Lee. Witness Lee founded the Local Church in Moscow and was himself a disciple of the famous Watchman Nee, who was imprisoned by the Chinese Communist Party.
The text in question is a translation of the New Testament by Lee called “New Testament: The Restoration Translation”. Sources indicate that the Moscow court had no issue with the New Testament itself, which as a Biblical text cannot be regarded as extremist under Russian law.
The court apparently did take exception to commentary by Witness Lee. The court told the Russian Agency of Legal and Judicial Information (RAPSI) that some of Witness Lee’s comments had “special linguistic signs of propaganda and humiliation” against other religions. The court went so far as to say that some comments appeared to justify violence against people of other religions.
As well as being declared uncanonical, the text was ruled to be overly exclusive of Biblical translations, especially those of the Russian Orthodox Church.
A representative of International Christian Concern commented on the case, “This is likely to create more pressure and a chilling effect on the members of the Local Church Congregation in Moscow and around Russia.
“It is fascinating that a Bible translation born out of so much persecution of Chinese Christians is now at the core of increasing pressure on evangelical believers in Russia. Please continue to pray for the local church members, for the evangelical Christians in China and Russia, and also for ongoing Bible translation efforts across the globe.”
Russia has banned a number of other religious texts for inciting extremism, including a translation of the Koran and the Jehovah’s Witness translation of the Bible. Some theological texts, novels and articles covering religious themes have also been banned as have some atheist materials.
