BIBLE TRANSLATORS: THE WORD FOR THE WORLD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201050007-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 19, 2010
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: July 25, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201050007-6
By Russell Chandler
Early on the morning of March 7,.
a shopkeeper in: Bogota, Colombia,-'.
ran across thestreer, banged on- the
outside gate of a- residence where-,
Brenda Bitterman was stay ing'- and. ':
shouted. a message she had hoped--
she would never hear -
wI'hey've found Chet's body ia: a
bus.'.
Almost seven weeks had passed
since her husband, linguist Chester'
A. Bitterman,rfl -2g; had been kid
raped by leftist terrorists: They said
they would kill him unless his organ-
ization, the Wycliffe Bible Trans-
lators, withdrew all 209 of its- people:??-
from Colombia.
The .Huntangton,..Beacb, Calif.
based translation : organization and.
its overseas arm, the-Summer Insti'
t?.ite of Ling(d3tics (STL), refused to
yield during the. 4& tense days of-,.
t' rumors and deadlines...
. The world's largest Bible trans
lotion group -has =been` work-':
mg-quietly, for: they most part-
for 50 years among remote peoples
whose languages are-unwritten..
"Until 1972; gur work drew basic.
811Y per, commendation-and-good'
press," Jerry Elder,. the Summer in_'
stitute's Latia-America-director; said?
during an interview: -We? have co-
operated with the, academic, world
and the national goveinments '
Most. of the criticism and suspi=
cion of Wycliffe, its leaders believe,
stem from the "radical critique - of
capitalistic society* voiced by. "West-
ern intelligentsia,"' particularly' ac-
tivist students arid: some-. feral-.
church leaders....
The Summer Instituter ,was' or-
ARTICLE- APPEARED
ON PAGE .8
THE WASHINGTON POST
25 July 1981
Si does,=r eceive?-project~-money,
however, from the U.S. Agency for
International Development, Cana.
dian and European. international de-
velopment agencies: and. ,bost :coon=
tries. Combined 1980 income for SIL
and Wycliffe entities, was: ,$35 mu,
lion,. 90?' percent of. it' from private
contributions.. Field" programs:- ac-
count for 75 percent- of the. organ-
ization's expenses; administration
and fund raising,16-percent:.-..
Host governments- often. ' provide
certain" privileges -ancf-Iacilities- for
SIL workers, such as. Office space,
visas and waivers-_or''reductions of
normal duties or taaes,.Governments
also often take major- responsibility
for, the safety of Si workers in ex-
change for accomplishment of gov.
ernment-assigned literacy Projects_
Political groups. that. oppose a re~
'gone in. power are apt to oppose Si
as well because of the cooperative re=
lationship- between the twos:,.:: .
Said George' Cowan, . Wycliffe's
-president: "Our policy- is -active co-
operation with host governments.::
Yet . we have' never- so : bound our=
selves- to any-government that: we:
were forced to assume. its: tactics or
be dependent-ori its, politicxJ.contiri=
uance,"
groups such_~ as'r` the - Inter"`
American Indian Congres-j nd th f
North' American Congress. on LatinlI
America voice political opposition. to I'
Wycliffe. They say Si represents
kind of . velvet-glove approach. to.
"civilizing'" indigenous . Peoples, - paw.
ing:the way. for exploitation:: x,- .,*-
dered out of Ecuador this year, and
critics who nearly succeeded in-forc--:
lag. its workers out of Peru -in_1976,
'have caused' problems for Si in=
Mexico and Brazil as well as- in Col=
ombia. Bitterman was- not the, first
Wycliffe worker to be killed; one was
shot by kidnapers in Vietnam during
the.. war,: at. least, one. other.. worker
was murdered-: and several others
have, been: taken hostage.-:but. re-
leased unharmed...
Rumors of Wycliffe, spy-connec-:
tions have been fueled by the pres-
ence of Si planes and radios in re-
mote areas.
Wycliffe' - workers.- like _ other
missionaries: - often come across
information that could be valuable.
to CIA undercover agents..
.The Rev. George. Cotter; a Mary-
knoll priest: who has been a mission-
ary in Tanzania and Latin -Ameri
said in a recent article in Christian
Century magazine that "because
missionaries spend years working
the unfortunates among them,, th
win trust and confidence: : - '
`Whey learn who are the mos
promising leaders, what are the
gion's problems,. and they are-often
.given access 'to people and areas
closed to most outsiderm.".,~.
Cotter suggests that CIAi.agenta
spin' intricate eommunications'webs
through which-they could elicit sen..
sitive information from. naive . mis-
Allegations that Yu'is a front
for the CIA have been strongly re=jected-
by - government officials as
.well as by:Wycliffe:leaders: The-lat.;
ter say. any SIL worker- connected
with jthe? CIA 'would immediately be
Wycliffe workers raise iueir- o~i n
salaries through-gifts from-
individ-uals -and churches in their some
countries and "am not paid. through
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201050007-6