Bible Society Wants to Distribute More New Testaments via Newspapers

By: Dave Astor As readers praised and criticized yesterday's delivery of New Testaments along with home-delivered copies of The Gazette in Colorado Springs, the International Bible Society confirmed that it wants to do a similar distribution with other newspapers.

"We have had a very long history of evangelism going back to 1809," the society's public-relations manager, Judy Billings, told E&P today. "We're always looking for innovative channels to get God's word into the hands of people who need it the most."

Earlier this year, according to the bible society, it distributed about 430,000 copies of the Gospel of Luke via the Houston Chronicle and another 93,000 via The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss.

The Colorado Springs Independent reported that the bible society is currently in discussions to include customized New Testaments with The Denver Post -- and that the society also has a wish list of papers in cities such as Seattle, Nashville, and Santa Rosa, Calif. Billings declined to say which papers the IBS has approached or will approach, and a Denver Post spokesman couldn't be reached for comment.

All Gazette home subscribers -- more than 90,000 -- received the New Testaments in a pocket of the plastic bag their newspaper came in yesterday. Reaction? The Gazette's vice president of sales and marketing, Susan Kelly-Gilbert, told E&P that the paper has received about two dozen calls and e-mails, with about half pleased to get the Bibles and half not so pleased.

Billings said the Colorado Springs-based International Bible Society received a number of responses today from Gazette readers happy to see the New Testaments. "It was a Christmas gift," she said of the 200-plus-page, donation-funded paperback, which was customized with a cover photo of Colorado Springs, testimony from local residents, and more.

But at Temple Shalom in Colorado Springs, "there was quite a bit of concern within the congregation," said Mary Simon, the synagogue's administrator. She reported that two congregants so far have told her they plan to cancel their Gazette subscriptions.

Simon -- who estimated that there are about 4,000 Jews among Colorado Springs' 350,000-plus residents -- told E&P it was "insensitive" to give the New Testaments "to people that may not want them." She added that Temple Shalom was also troubled that religious books could end up being run over by cars or chewed on by dogs after they were delivered with yesterday's Gazette.

The synagogue, Simon said, plans to collect Gazette-distributed New Testaments from people who don't want them and give them to Christian-run homeless shelters. She reported that a half-dozen books have come in already.

Billings said the bible society wants all of the Gazette's Sunday home subscribers, whether Christian or not, to read the New Testament. But, if not, she hopes subscribers will give the books to people who might be interested or return them to the IBS.

The Gazette -- which puts laundry detergent, America Online discs, and other paid-distribution items in its home-delivery bags -- felt the New Testaments were acceptable under its guidelines. "We're in the distribution business, and we take various things to distribute," said Gazette President and Publisher Bob Burdick, as quoted in an Oct. 16 Gazette article. "Just because we distribute something doesn't mean we endorse it or don't endorse it."

No subsequent story or note about the distribution appeared in The Gazette during the past few days. Kelly-Gilbert said that, to her knowledge, few or no readers complained about the then-future distribution after reading the Oct. 16 article.

She added that The Gazette is always offering information that may be of interest to some readers and not of interest to others. "That's what newspapers do," said Kelly-Gilbert, who was not aware of any canceled Gazette subscriptions at this point.

The Independent reported that the IBS paid The Gazette $36,000 to distribute the New Testaments and run a full-page ad. Billings and Kelly-Gilbert declined to discuss the cost.