The controversial Museum of the
Bible, a project spearheaded by Hobby Lobby President Steve Green, is scheduled
open in Washington, D.C. in 2017, and is seen as a threat by an atheist group that
claims the intent of the museum is not to educate tourists, but to “influence
Congress.”
News of the museum’s pending
construction came not long after Hobby Lobby won a religious freedom case
before the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court
ruled in June that Hobby Lobby could be exempted from providing four birth
control methods that can lead to the early termination of a pregnancy.
Since the announcement of the
project, the Museum of the Bible has generated negative responses from secular
groups, including the Madison, Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). “I think they (the
Green family) are a great threat,” Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of FFRF, told The New York Times, when she was asked to comment on the Green
family’s plans for a 430,000-square-foot-Bible museum. “My instincts would tell me that they are
choosing Washington, D.C. because they intend to influence Congress.”
Cary Summers, chief operating
officer of Museum of the Bible, told The
Christian Post that the planned location, the Washington Design Center in
Southwest Washington, was selected in large part because the nation’s capital
is “the museum capital of the world. Because
the city is known as a destination for world-class museums, studies conducted
by the museum team found that Museum of the Bible would be best attended in
D.C. as opposed to other cities,” such as New York City or Dallas.
According to the museum fact sheet,
once completed the Museum of the Bible will include eight floors and a basement
that will house more than 500 biblical texts and artifacts; one rooftop
biblical garden; permanent exhibits on the history, impact and narrative of the
Bible; libraries and museum galleries; and will be open to 60 seminaries and
universities worldwide whose students will be conducting research on the Green
family’s collection.
The building — originally
constructed in the 1920s as a refrigeration warehouse — “will be restored,
adapted and enhanced,” to accommodate an “eight-story world-class museum” that will
include “high-tech exhibits, immersive settings and interactive experiences,”
Summers explained.
Architectural plans for the Museum
of the Bible are being led by Smith Group JJR, “the architectural firm that
designed the International Spy Museum, the White House Visitor Center, Normandy
American Cemetery Visitor Center and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the
African-American History and Culture,” Summers added.
The museum is not the only effort
the Green family has undertaken to advance knowledge of the Bible. The Green Scholars Initiative has developed
an elective Bible course for public schools, which at least one Oklahoma school
district is expected to implement. The
curricular efforts have also been criticized by multiple church-state watchdog
groups that believe the course will lead to unconstitutional proselytizing by
public school officials.
Perhaps next, FFRF would like to remove all churches and synagogues in D.C. … who
are no-doubt influencing not only Congress, but other branches and departments of
government.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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