Not content with a Supreme Court decision that has the potential to set back LGBT progress for years, the family behind the Hobby Lobby store chain have a new project in mind. They’d like to build a giant museum dedicated to the Bible just two blocks from the National Mall in D.C., where such venerable institutions as the Smithsonian and National Gallery of Art reside.
Needless to say, this won’t be just any old tribute to religion. It will be a monument to a particular interpretation of the Bible. Steve Green, the president of Hobby Lobby, has called the Bible “a reliable historical document,” and, in connection with the museum, plans a curriculum to “reintroduce this book to this nation.”
You don’t have to read between the lines there. Given the Green family’s political activism and ties to the Christian right, the emphasis isn’t going to be on feeding and clothing the poor. “This nation is in danger because of its ignorance of what God has taught,” Green has said. “There are lessons from the past that we can learn from, the dangers of ignorance of this book. We need to know it. If we don’t know it, our future is going to be very scary.”
Between the Supreme Court decision and the museum, we’d agree.
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Moreover, the choice of D.C. as the location of the 400,00 square-foot museum gives the Greens a permanent base from which to target legislation. The museum is going to cost $800 million, and the Greens are going to want something to show for their investment. “My instincts would tell me that they are choosing Washington, D.C., because they intend to influence Congress,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, a co-president of Freedom From Religion Foundation.
So if you think the Supreme Court decision was a singular event, think again. It looks like the Hobby Lobby family are only just getting started.
Photo credit: DangApricot
ted72
This is what nightmares are made of.
middleagespread
800 million?? They sure do sell a lot of crafting crap.
rextrek
800 million….? WOW – wonder how many food pantries that would fill? wonder how many homeless that could help? so….christian of them…NOT!
Teeth
That’s wonderful! Maybe if they actually got into learning the history of the bible they would be a little more humanistic.
DB75
Instead of pushing their idea of theology, they should practice what they preach and use the money instead to do what Jesus said to do – care for the marginalized and disadvantaged. Feed the poor. Shelter the homeless. Heal the sick. Too bad egos get in the way.
Queer4Life
See and I think this is fantastic. No seriously its a really great idea. Just think about it. Wasting all that money building something no one is going to see is way better than spending that money promoting anti-gay propaganda. Go HobbyLobby!
DickieJohnson
@DB75: Amen! It so amazes me how the bigoted “Christian” Right misses all the important positive parts of Jesus’ teachings, and goes for the hate and homophobia BS, of which He never said a single word. Can’t they read?
Teeth
@DickieJohnson: That’s my point… maybe studying their history better will change them.
Kieran
Well why not? They’re putting everything else on the National Mall today. Might as well have a Bible museum too.
Stache99
They should do it like the creation museum in KY. Fun stuff like Jesus riding dinosaurs. That’s what the kids really want to see.
Black Pegasus
I give humanity another thousand years or so before it rids itself of the silly belief in magical omnipotent beings who created the universe. But I fear humanity will destroy itself before that glorious day has passed.
TomMc
Oh, fer Christ’s sake!
TrekBear
Which version of the Bible would the museum be based on: the King James Version, Good News for Modern Man, or the Revised Standard Version?
jwrappaport
There’s already a Bible museum – it’s located at 1 First Street NE.
Lvng1tor
@Queer4Life: Problem is that tax payer subsidies will be given to the project. It’s how the whole thing works. They spend 400mil we kick in the rest because it’s a job creator and GOP Senators will see it as their righteous duty and middle finger to Obama and the Gays!
Ugh..First Jesus would line up for a chicken sandwich against gays and now he’d rather you come to yet another place of overwhelming ego….I mean worship… while children starve. Good luck getting past St Peter dickwads!
Ruhlmann
They’ll need to have an inquisition wing, a burning at the stake display and a plaque explaining how they rid the world of witches and demons. How did America get so fucked up on the bible?
lykeitiz
@TomMc: The ONLY true response! Anything else gives them too much attention.
transiteer
It’s going to have to be a big building to cover all the opposing and contradictory stories/event in that “holy” book. When you have so many authors writing, correcting, embellishing differing stories about the (supposed) same events, it gets complicated! Then there’s the bit about all the right-wing-bible-thumpers favourite parts to spread the un-christian message of hate and violence toward those you don’t like (nothing makes you feel better about yourself than finding another person – or whole group of persons – to denigrate and hate. Of course, the bible is poorly assembled jumble of fictional stories around a god that doesn’t exist, and a Jesus who never did either. This “book” was put together – cut & paste – by the Roman Emperor Constantine as a political tool to unite a too-large empire. It did however, establish a new hierarchy that wants to control the masses, and tell you what to do while they enrich themselves. Like the owners of Hobby Lobby. A business best avoided at all costs as it supports ignorant and hateful people that have no qualms about coming after you because of your Nature. They deserve Divine Punishment.
Teeth
@TrekBear: That’s also a valid point– if they really studied the history of the bible, it would have to include some counter-culture realities– like the multiple versions, like the multitudes who died the same way, like the obscurity of their savior’s work until it was used as a weapon against others.. Learning is fun!
1EqualityUSA
I adore the Bible, I just can’t stand what ignorant haters do with it.