The Economist USA 03.21.2020

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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

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