WASHINGTON — The National Mall may be the nation’s front lawn, but religious displays are prohibited. Even at holiday time the museums that line it are only lightly decorated with Christmas trees and lights, and nothing religious.

But a new museum is going up nearby – the Museum of the Bible – that only wants to celebrate Christian Scripture. The $400 million project two blocks south of the National Air and Space Museum doesn’t have to worry about laws or rulings that keep religion and state separate.

The museum is the brainchild of Steve Green, president of Hobby Lobby, the Oklahoma City-based crafts chain that follows its owners’ evangelical beliefs, including closing its 600 stores on Sundays.

Hobby Lobby in 2014 won a Supreme Court decision exempting it from Affordable Care Act requirements on birth control coverage that conflicted with the owners’ beliefs.

Green has had a vision of a Bible museum for several years – it was first intended for Dallas – to make Scripture more accessible. Construction in Washington began in February on the site of a former refrigeration warehouse and design center. It will be one of the largest museums in the city, with eight floors, 430,000 square feet and a garden on the roof.

“The Bible has had a huge impact on our world today – from culture and politics, to social and moral justice, to literature, art and music, and more,” Green told a group of civic leaders last year at the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. “Our family has a passion for the Bible and we are excited to be part of a museum dedicated to sharing its impact, history and narrative with the world.”

There are cautionary voices. Duke University religious studies scholar Carol Meyers said in an interview: “The Bible is not a perfect source of information. There’s a lot of storytelling. It can’t be evaluated in a way that supports contemporary history.”

She said she was concerned that “there may be a subtle slant” that supports an evangelical view.


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