CONTROVERSY FOLLOWS U.S. BIBLE TRANSLATORS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201180124-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 124
• Publication Date: February 28, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/09: CIA-RDP9O-00806ROO0201180124-2
ttTICILZ AP's
-WASHINGTON STAR
28 FEBRUARY 1981
rs O lOWS
e T ta nit S
JaX Jitaa astelli ,. led CentraI_
-ownsendhad traveo
w sri, Re49ion.Fditoi4,~;~4 America as a.,college studentin-1917
~-~ ~- 1 - and- found -that.manj small-'tribes:
Take an-American rganizau~ 'spoke languages othei than their'na-
that preach e Christianity 'Gnre" t,
sU&--governmentMoney=+to- lions official language He 'then
some
orkwtth dlosetiesto riperI..eats; spent 12_years reducing the-spoken:
of the Cakchiquwl Tribe of
g 1anguage
.
of the:?Tir'World nations where it Guatemala to a written language.=IC;
service;.
-serves~is owa and radio `
naib producing a New Testament.
a S31 million. akyear budget and4,000-
workersin36countries: Letit brie ,translation , t _ , .,1, 1
literati " and a healthy {dose :of , Townsend was committed to the
erff caItui'e ~fo remote.I~diat4 '.biblical notion -that Christ called for
west
weste rcuThi n onir rem ever3 .?peison on Earth-ta hear,the-
rWyclffe's critics _ inc1trding a i
national association of anthropolo-'
gists from. Mexico, . sothe -Indian.1
? mining the ba?i?F`culturesof the
groups they help They_have a very
.tq?>
inissionazP
' ,Blair counters that putting awun-
written,,4anguage 'en ,paper ?pre-
serves a culture
Cultures change all.the?`e,she
said; and: remote tribal' cultures are-
changed:by their: contact with:.the-
.outside world. Wycliffe's work helps,
them..:cope with- that-.contact and
change she said
:'She saidWycliffe does not prosely-
tize, but simply-presents the New-
~Yau'get.Iiie Wycurte tstoie i ran- -slate fhe Bibl-einto even the cost ob-:
sIators?,and"its! two ;affiliates,~':th =sctire?Iai i ua e.;
Suinfder-Lktstltuteof Linguistics`an g 6 . ?;~,-.
the Jungl=e?Airaud-Radio Services _ e organization has now
But tome. people, asking the "same; catalogtfed'5,103'.Ianguag?s,-some of
que?tfons, come-up with-a different ahem spoken bfewer than 100 peo?
answer the'elmerican? CIA = ple It has produced,Bibles in 800 lan
-The-cfiaige that Wyclifiea CIA A ~nslaes and
ons. is Wycliffe has on p 650 word
roduced
f out hasbeenmade-and?strongly-translrtions. ycliff'ai aof rOdue many-of denied =sbefore, but neverasti}Fa Ee Ian ua
cally,as iii*'.Columbia, L .F ,..5 g e s where a mat
ot'? erillaas-kidnaPPed a-.W.Tc 'We're a1Phabet-makers,"~`.'-said':
band
~ . . ~ s` --
liffe worlcev - 28-year-0ld Chester-4'" Blair: , who said most of the people
Bitterman`IA.,6nlan.?19 and threw '" Wycliffe seryes ;,are'. "isolated geo-:`
_ened. to tCill--,ium if his organization^ graphically" and culturally from the
didnot leave the countryby Feb 19 =rest of their country
The guerfllas,`who have since
tended the deadliae, said the instr~ f , Insti .A . tutetypicaof l team Linguisticfrom