The publisher of The Source New Testament (TSNT),
Smith and Stirling Publishing, is an independent publisher that will not be
threatened by members of the Religious Right nor will be bought out by other
publishers who are a front for such groups.
The availablity and content of Bibles is actually
controlled. In 1997, members of the USA Religious Right prevented a Bible
version from being released in the USA, and in 2001 lobbied to prevent
Today’s New International Version being used by 3 major
denominations.
These same people put out 2 Bible versions of their own. They
own a major Christian publishing company, as well as the huge Lifeway bookstores
in the USA. Albert Mohler then head of the 20 million member Southern Baptist
Convention, is on record as stating he is excited about the Holman Christian
Standard Bible “if for no other reason than we will have a major
translation we can control.”
The Council on Biblical Manhood and
Womanhood (CBMW) lobbies hard against Bibles which translate gender
language correctly, those Bibles that do not uphold their personal view that
women by nature are subordinate to men.
Very powerful political figures have
been on or are currently on the CBMW’s Board of Reference. These include Pat
Robertson, founder of Christian Coalition, described as “a major source of
troops for the right-wing of the Republican Party”, Christian Broadcast Network
(CBN), and The 700 Club, and author of New World Order. Pat
Robertson stated a “wife is to recognize her husband’s role and submit to his
wisdom in matters where there may be disagreement” and in which the man should
“bring home the bacon” and the woman should “fry it up in a pan”. He goes
further in lobbying for legislation that will bring this about. CNN alleged that
Pat Robertson hand-picked more than 30 Bush campaign leaders, and made public
the relevant documents.
Other members of CBMW include Jerry Falwell, who
called women a “God-ordained minority” on USA Today Chat. Falwell is infamous
for including what he labels as “feminists” in his list of people whom he
declared responsible for the September 11 tragedy.
In 1997, leaders of the
Baptist Sunday School Board (Southern Baptist Convention) met Zondervan and the
International Bible Society (IBS) and threatened to stop using the the New
International Version (NIV) and to stop selling the NIV in their bookstores if
Zondervan and IBS went ahead with their plans to publish an inclusive version of
the NIV in the USA. As a result, Zondervan, the biggest publisher of Bibles in
the world, withdrew their plans for this version.
In the same year, the
Southern Baptist Convention, the Presbyterian Church in America, and the
Conservative Congregational Christian Churches all passed resolutions opposing
Bibles which translated gender accurately. When Today’s New International
Version was released early in 2002, it attracted strong lobbying from the very
same powerful political groups.
Most Bible translations are backed by
denominations or specific ideological groups. The English Standard
Version (ESV), for example, had on its board of advisors several lobbyists
against the TNIV. The ESV was released shortly before the TNIV and was a market
competitor. The ESV was published by Crossway Books, the President of which,
Lane T. Dennis, was one of the original CBMW Council members and later on the
CBMW Board of Reference. Crossway Books publish many books by CBMW members,
specifically those books which are anti-women.
The Religious Right lobbies
to introduce laws which make the husband the head of the family, and to
introduce laws which make it difficult for women to work. Beverly LaHaye who is
on the CBMW’s Board of Reference along with fellow Council for National
Policy member Pat Robertson, wrote in her 1976 book The Spirit
Controlled Woman that “spirit controlled women” are “truly liberated”
because they are “totally submissive” to their husbands.
The Religious Right and their allies own much of the world
media, although even their smaller publications have proven influential. In
1998, World magazine published a cover story by Susan Olasky entitled,
“Femme fatale: The feminist seduction of the evangelical church: The New
International Version of the Bible - the best-selling English version in the
world - is quietly going ‘gender-neutral’”. The article used sensationalist
language and alleged a covert feminist agenda on the part of Bible publisher
Zondervan. Soon after, World magazine produced a special edition which
included only this article and one by Grudem, “Comparing the two NIVs”. Jerry
Falwell ordered and distributed 50,000 copies of the edition. Money
talks!
Susan Olasky is the wife of Marvin Olasky, George W. Bush’s religion
and faith-based charity advisor, when Bush was Governor of Texas. Olasky advised
Governor Bush since 1993 and chaired Bush’s policy subcommittee on
religion.
The then Governor Bush wrote the introduction to Olasky’s book,
Compassionate Conservatism: What It Is, What It Does, and How It Can
Transform America. The book set out the way in which Governor Bush and his
advisor Olasky intend to tear down the wall separating church and state.
People who control Bible translation are
politically powerful, have powerful friends and access to millions of dollars.
The Bush administration channels millions of dollars of funding into the
Religous Right, Pat Robertson being a major recipient. These are the people who
control Bible translation today.
In 2001, a well known theologian and businessman
purporting to be a personal friend of former Bush administration Attorney
General John Ashcroft put pressure on Dr Nyland in an attempt to buy the rights
to her translation. This is at the least unethical, as ethically the rights
always remain with the translator, and at the worst, can be seen as
"privishing", an attempt to shut down this translation. (That is, to buy it and
then make sure it never sees the light of day.)
That said, we have had, not terribly
surprisingly, great trouble with the media with publicity for The
Source. A publicist told us they have never encountered this before and are
"starting to see all sorts of conspiracy theories". Articles are getting pulled
at the last minute.
Smith and Stirling Publishing will publish those
books which the Religious Right and their allied organisations otherwise
suppress.
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