Bible Museums Across the U.S. Range from Scholarly to Colorful

MCDONDOUGH VOICE
By Kelsey Dallas

Freer and Sackler Galleries, Washington, D.C.

In a few years, families won't be limited to exploring presidential monuments or walking along the National Mall on vacations to Washington, D.C. They'll also have access to a new Bible museum, scheduled to open in 2017 just a few blocks away from some of America's most famous tourist attractions. The project is sponsored by the family that owns Hobby Lobby. Its nonprofit organization, Museum of the Bible, also funds a traveling exhibit of biblical artifacts and a Bible curriculum for high school students. [link]

Further clues can be found in the Bible exhibits already in operation. Check out these unique sites across the country, which range from scholarly to colorful:

1. Museum of Biblical Art, New York City
2. Dunham Bible Museum, Houston
3. Library of Congress Bible Collection, Washington, D.C.
4. Museum of Biblical Art, Dallas Opened in 2013
5. Freer and Sackler Galleries, Washington, D.C. 
6. The Bible Museum, Goodyear, Arizona
7. BibleWalk, Mansfield, Ohio 
8. Treasuring the Word, Sevierville, Tennessee

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Family Behind Hobby Lobby Has New Project: Bible Museum

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Alan Rappeport

The proposed museum, shown in this rendering, is scheduled to open in 2017.

WASHINGTON, DC---The evangelical Christian family that owns Hobby Lobby, the chain of craft stores, made history two weeks ago when the Supreme Court overturned the Obama administration’s mandate that family-owned companies must provide contraceptive coverage to their employees. Now, the family is looking to build a permanent presence on the Washington landscape, by establishing a sprawling museum dedicated to the Bible — just two blocks south of the National Mall. Such sentiments have stirred fears about the museum among groups such as the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which promotes separation between church and state. [link]

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Hobby Lobby's Green Family Building Biblical Museum in Washington, D.C.

BRIETBART
By Dr. Susan Berry

The Green Collection, which had its debut in 2011, features items
such as pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls and rare illuminated manuscripts.

WASHINGTON, D.C.---The Supreme Court is due to decide whether the owners of Hobby Lobby craft supplies stores can be forced by the federal government to include in their employee health insurance forms of contraception that are against their religious beliefs. The Green family, however, has set its sights on much more than a lawsuit against Obamacare: they hope to help Americans become more familiar with a book called the Bible. As noted by Politico’s Stephanie Simon, the Greens are “building a huge museum dedicated to the Bible a few blocks from the Mall in Washington, D.C., with as much public space as the National Museum of American History.” [link]

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A Victory for ‘Religious Freedom’ is a Loss for Religion

DAILY BEAST
By Gene Robinson

WASHINGTON, DC---In the next few weeks, the Supreme Court of the United States will rule on two cases taken up this term: Hobby Lobby vs. Sibelius and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. vs. Sibelius. Both claim to be about the freedom to practice one’s own religion without interference by the government, but both are actually about whether or not broad exemptions to disregard antidiscrimination laws should be granted to people—and corporations—who oppose them on religious grounds. Most embarrassing of all is the specter of people asking in the name of religion for permission to discriminate. [link]

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Sacred Spaces: Curbing Memorial Sprawl

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Catesby Leigh

An earlier proposal by Frank Gehry for the Eisenhower Memorial raised objections from members of Ike's family. Associated Press

In prehistoric times, when people wanted to commemorate something or someone, they erected a monument—even if it was nothing more than an upright slab or heap of stones. Elaborating on those origins, traditional architecture would come to embrace an array of monumental forms readily recognizable for their symbolic import. But more recently we have seen a remarkable shift from the vertical to the horizontal, with a significant number of major memorials designed as places rather than objects. They are symptomatic of a civic-art disease: memorial sprawl. Historically, memorials have communicated their significance through a combination of mass, verticality and symbolism: the qualities we think of as monumental. When you lose monumentality's conceptual and spatial compactness, you're apt to wind up with a poorly resolved memorial.

Mr. Leigh writes about public art and architecture.

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White House Dedicates Stamp to Jewish Gay Right's Advocate Harvey Milk

JWEEKLY

WASHINGTON, DC---The White House will dedicate a Harvey Milk stamp on its first day of issue. The “forever” stamp — valid for first-class postage even in the event of price hikes — was to be issued May 22. It features a photo of Milk, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, taken in 1977, the year he made history when he became the first openly gay elected official from a major U.S. city. In November 1978, Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were shot and killed by a former colleague of Milk’s on the Board of Supervisors. Memorial services for Milk, a secular Jew, were held at congregations Sha’ar Zahav and Emanu-El.  [link]

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