The Museum of the Bible is officially being built in the nation’s capital.
Construction has begun on the longtime project of Hobby Lobby head Steve Green. The museum, scheduled to open in 2017, will have 430,000 square feet dedicated to the history of the Bible and the word of God.
“In many respects this is the kickoff of a three year project. We’ve been working on it for two years, this is the first time that anything major will be exposed to the public,” Cary Summers, president of the Museum of the Bible, said Thursday.
“Hopefully, it will be a great addition to this city. As you know, Washington, D.C. is the capital of museums in the world.”
Green, a collector of Biblical artifacts, had purchased a facility in 2012 for the purpose of building the museum. The museum will not only be open to the public but also be open to seminaries around the world to study the various Biblical artifacts collected by the Green family.
The artifacts are also part of a course curriculum created by Green.
“It just seems to make sense because of the scholarship that we have, the artifacts that we have, the museum that we have, that we develop that into a curriculum that basically teaches what the museum displays,” said Green. “That is a venture that we’re working on as well.”
After complaints from anti-Christian groups, an Oklahoma school board has dropped an elective course on the Bible proposed by the head of the craft chain Hobby Lobby.
The Mustang School Board has approved in April the “Museum of the Bible” curriculum that Steve Green presented to them. The class would show the Old and New Testament’s impact on American society.
The virulent anti-Christian groups Freedom From Religion Foundation and Americans United for Separation of Church and State claimed the curriculum was unconstitutional because it spoke positively about Christianity.
“The topic of a Bible course in the Mustang School District is no longer a discussion item nor is there a plan to provide such a course in the foreseeable future,” the school’s superintendent wrote, according to reports. “All students who were pre-enrolled in the elective had their schedules changed to a Humanities course or they were afforded the opportunity to select another elective.”
Officials with the Museum of the Bible seem unfazed by the outcome of the bigoted attack against them by the anti-Christian groups.
“We understand Mustang’s decision to withdraw the new, elective Bible course from consideration,” said course representative and editor Jerry Pattengale. “Museum of the Bible remains committed to providing an elective high school Bible curriculum and continues work on an innovative, high-tech course that will provide students and teachers with a scholarly overview of the Bible’s history, narrative and impact.”
Every day for eight years, the President of the United States spent time reading, studying and meditating on the Word of God.
That’s the message that President George W. Bush told a group of 200 civic and business leaders in Dallas on Sunday.
“I read the Bible every day during my presidency,” said Bush. “The easiest time to be faithful is during a time of crisis. The hardest time for faith is when all is well. Faith informed my principles and decisions, but not my tactics. It would give me strength, but I didn’t use my faith to make decisions. Freedom is a faith informed principle.”
The President spoke with Hobby Lobby president Steve Green at an event to raise funds for the Museum of the Bible that is scheduled to open in Washington, D.C. in 2017.
President Bush praised the museum.
“The museum is a great idea. It’s very important that the Museum of the Bible invites and makes people of all faiths feel comfortable. It will be an important part of our capital,” he said.
Extremist anti-Christian groups are attacking the family who owns the Hobby Lobby chain of stores for their plans to open a Bible Museum in Washington, D.C.
In one case, a group calls them a “great threat” to America.
The family of Hobby Lobby President Steve Green plans to open the Museum of the Bible in 2017. The museum’s construction was announced shortly after the Supreme Court ruled that Hobby Lobby could not be forced to provide four abortion causing drugs under the Affordable Care Act.
The Museum will have antique Bibles as well as educational areas about the Bible and its history.
“I think they (the Green family) are a great threat,” Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the anti-Christian Freedom From Religion Foundation, told The New York Times. “My instincts would tell me that they are choosing Washington, D.C. because they intend to influence Congress.”
A spokesman for the Museum of the Bible said that Washington, D.C. was chosen because it was the museum capital of the world and that studies showed they would have the best level of attendance in the nation’s capitol.
The new Bible museum scheduled to open in Washington, D.C. in 2017 is scheduled to begin construction next month.
The museum, which will feature many ancient Bibles and manuscripts owned by the Green family who owns the Hobby Lobby chain, will be located on D Street SW. The building is two blocks away from the Capitol building.
“Our intent is for this museum to showcase both the Old and New Testaments, arguably the world’s most significant pieces of literature, through a non-sectarian, scholarly approach that makes the history, scholarship and impact of the Bible on virtually every facet of society accessible to everyone,” said Museum of the Bible spokesperson Mark DeMoss.
The Green family hopes the location of the museum near the Capitol will help the legislators remember the foundation of the nation comes from Biblical principles.
Steve Green also hopes the museum will help Biblical illiteracy.
“We have probably the most ignorant population we’ve ever had in our society [about the Bible] because it’s been taken out of our schools,” he told the Baptist Press. “We want to be able to, in a simple way, explain to them, ‘Here’s what the Bible is.’ Ultimately, it’s about the fact that we are sinners, we need a Savior and Christ was that. And He came to die for us that we might have life.”
