The Economist - USA (2020-03-21)

The EconomistMarch 21st 2020 United States 27

agers,whomtheyhavesinceadopted.

In family-oriented communities like

Cheyenne,folkssometimesexpectthema-

ternity wardto follow quickly after the

churchaisle.“It’slikeyougettoa certain

ageroundhereandyoushouldbehaving

children,”says KevinOgle. Locals never

askedhimandhisboyfriend,Shawndae,

whethertheywantedtohavechildrenuntil

theygotmarried,in2011.“Thentheywere

like‘well,areyouguysgoingtostarta fam-

ily?’That’sthenextstep.”Theymettheir

surrogate,inGeorgia,througha Facebook

page.Theirdaughter,Charlotte,isnowfive.

MrCaswellreckonsheand MrHardy

havemoreincommonwithstraightpar-

entsthanwithothergaypeoplewhoare

notraisingchildren.“We’veneverbeento

Mykonos,”hesays,referringtoa Greekis-

landpopularwithgaytourists.“Weteach

ourchildrenthattaxationistheftandthata

biggovernmentisa badgovernment.” 7

W

hen the Museum of the Bible

openedinWashington,dcin2017,it

boastedanexhibittomakearchaeologists

salivate:fragmentsoftheDeadSeascrolls.

These2,000-year-oldscrapsofparchment

includetheoldestknowntranscriptsofthe

OldTestament—andthemuseumhad 16 of

them.Exceptthatit didn’t.In 2018 fiveofits

fragmentswererevealedtobefakes.Last

week,themuseumannouncedthatall 16

were forgeries, probably created in the

20thcenturyoutofancientleather,per-

hapsfromoldshoes.

Therevelationisanembarrassmentfor

themuseum,whichhassoughttopresent

itselfasanacademicallyrigorousinstitu-

tionworthyofitslocationjustofftheNa-

tionalMall,wheretheSmithsonian’sfine

museumsarelocated.Themuseumwas

foundedbySteveGreen,a prominentevan-

gelicalChristianandpresidentofHobby

Lobby,a chainofcraftshopswhichin 2014

persuadedtheSupremeCourtthatitde-

serveda religiousexemptionfroma federal

requirementunderwhichemployerspro-

videtheirworkerswithcertaincontracep-

tives.Ithasrebuffedcriticismsthatitisan

expensiveadvertisementforfundamental-

istChristianity.Themuseumhasseveral

respectedbiblical-scholarconsultantsand

a breathtakingcollectionofbiblicaltexts

and artefacts.They includeaGilgamesh

tabletfromthesecondmillenniumbcand

sectionsoftheGutenbergbible.

Themuseum’sDeadSeafragmentsarea

less impressive acquisition, apparently

boughtwithoutlooking toocloselyinto

their origins. The real things, most of

whichareintheIsraelMuseuminJerusa-

lem,werediscoveredincavesinwhatis

now the West Bank in the 1940s. The

“scrolls”MrGreensnappedup,partofa

group of 70 orso,cameto marketafter

2000.Theresearcherswhostudiedthem

saythecluestotheirforgeryincludeindi-

cationsthattheywerewrittenona bumpy

surface:parchmentresemblesleather after

2,000yearsbutitwouldoriginallyhave

beensmooth.Theyarealsocoatedin ani-

malgluetomimicthewaxysheenthat de-

velopswhencollageninparchmentbreaks

downovertimetoformgelatine.

ThisisnotthefirsttimetheBiblemuse-

umhasbeenembarrassedoveritsacquisi-

tions.Lastyearit emergedthatHobby Lob-

by had bought 13 fragments of ancient

papyrustexts,whichhadbeensoldby an

Oxfordprofessorwhohasbeenaccused of

stealingthemfromthecollectionheover-

saw. The museumsaid the acquisitions

weremade“ingoodfaith”andpromptly

handedthemback.

It appears to have been similarly

uprightandtransparentaboutitsDead Sea

mis-purchases. Last February, it commis-

sioned an independent team of research-

ers, who spent six months studying the

fragments. Their 200-page report is dis-

played prominently on the museum’s web-

site. Jeff Kloha, the museum’s chief curato-

rial officer, says he hopes the techniques

used by the researchers will be helpful to

other buyers of other such scrolls. Though

Mr Green has not disclosed how much he

paid for his, the group from which they

came are estimated to have sold for up-

wards of $35m.

Yet purchasing and then displaying

such artefacts without first establishing

their provenance is no way to run an insti-

tution that presents itself as an authority

on the Bible. The error is indicative of a

wider lack of academic rigour at the muse-

um. Though its display of biblical artefacts

is impressive, with fact-based descriptions

of how the Old and New Testaments were

gathered and translated, elsewhere, in-

cluding in a walk through the stories of the

Old Testament, the museum tends to elide

biblical stories with historical fact in a way

that makes many biblical scholars uncom-

fortable. Given that America’s division of

church and state means few people have

the opportunity to learn about the history

of the Bible, this seems unfortunate.

Yet the museum may be evangelising to

fewer people than it had hoped, even be-

fore the novel coronavirus led to its tempo-

rary closure this week. In its first year,

when entry was free, it received a million

visitors. Since late 2018, it has charged an

entrance fee. Though it will not say how

many visitors it has welcomed since, it

seems likely that fewer tourists, visiting

the free museums on the Mall, have been

swinging by to see its treasures. 7

WASHINGTON,DC

Fakescrolls,justofftheNationalMall

TheBiblemuseum

A loadofoldcobblers

It’s only rock and scroll but I like it

2