“What are we to make of the fact that every time we buy a Zondervan product we contribute to Murdoch’s mogul-dom, which includes a personal fortune that Forbes pegged at $6.3 billion last year.”

The scandal involving Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloid empire continues to widen, bringing scrutiny to, of all places, western Michigan and the Zondervan publishing company.

Among the major holdings in Murdoch’s News Corp is publisher HarperCollins, which owns Zondervan, the Christian publishing giant known for prominent Christian authors and numerous best-selling editions of the New International Version Bible.

Murdoch’s Bible connections have set the blogosphere abuzz.

The Zondervan connection to the still-unfolding scandal was first pointed out by Will Braun, former editor of Geez Magazine on his Holy Moly blog), where he described the 80-year-old Murdoch as a “Bible mogul.”

Or, as USA Today’s Faith & Reason blog put it, “Would you buy a Bible from Rupert Murdoch …? You probably already have.”

Zondervan was formed in Grandville, Mich., in 1931 and has become the nation’s largest Bible publisher. HarperCollins bought the company in 1988.

Murdoch is best known in the U.S. as the tycoon who owns media properties such as Fox News and The Wall Street Journal. Murdoch was forced to close one of his British tabloids, News of the World, following allegations that its reporters had hacked the phone accounts of thousands of people, including victims of violent crime and terrorism, families of dead soldiers and politicians and various celebrities.

The scandal has rattled British institutions, resulted in several high-profile arrests and resignations and thrown the country’s tabloid media culture into harsh focus.

In his blog post, Braun highlighted some ethical issues the Murdoch connection raises for writers who work with Zondervan:

“For those of us who care about the Christian Scriptures, what are we to make of this mix of billionaire media tycoonery, allegations of phone hacking and bribery, and the Holy Word of God?” he asked.

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