Has political correctness gone too far? Yes, says the conservative Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, which has declined to endorse the latest update of the New International Version of the Bible.

Blasting the revision in no uncertain terms, Internet blogger David Stewart calls the new version a “further butchering of God’s Word and an even sharper departure from the biblical faith.”

Popularly known as the NIV, the modern version of the Bible has outsold the venerable King James Version in recent years, according the Christian Booksellers Association. More than 215 million have sold worldwide, according to the NIV’s publisher, Zondervan.

There are more than 450 different English translations of the Bible. In 2011, the top sellers were the NIV, then the King James Version, followed by the New King James Version, published by Thomas Nelson Publishers, and the New Living Translation from Tyndale.

Why are conservatives alarmed by the changes in the new NIV? They cite examples such as in Mark 1:17 in which the new NIV’s Jesus does not offer to make His disciples “fishers of men.” Instead, it reads: “‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.'” 

“Publishers of the New International Version previously tried to make the holy text of Christianity ‘gender accurate’ by changing phrases such as ‘sons of God’ to ‘children of God’ and ‘brethren’ to ‘brothers and sisters,'” writes Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent for the British daily newspaper The Telegraph.

Among the criticism of the 2005 was the translators’ “description of the Virgin Mary as ‘pregnant’ rather than ‘with child,'” noted Beckford, “and removal of mentions of people being ‘stoned'” to death.

“But after the 2005 update, called Today’s New International Version, was criticized by scholars and traditionalists,” writes Beckford, “the committee decided to review all its previous changes – with their all-new edition’s release in 2011. This will coincide with the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Version.”