This is in fact a biased and misleading exhibit, in which the current state of research on the Dead Sea Scrolls has been carefully distorted to cater to a Christian perspective.
In a word, the Raleigh museum (which is run by the North Carolina Department of the Environment) agreed to downplay and conceal the evidence brought to light by a major group of secular-minded, Jewish researchers who, over the past decade, have rejected the old "Qumran-sectarian" theory of scroll origins, and to physically exclude them from participating in the lecture series accompanying the exhibit.
The museum's press release states that the "group" who, according to the exhibitors, wrote the scrolls "saw themselves as the 'true Israel' and viewed those living in Jerusalem, including the priesthood at the Temple, as corrupt."
What most readers of the press release will not know, is that the expression "true Israel" was a term first used by a number of early Church fathers, who believed that Christians were the "true Israel" and that the Jews were evil sinners. The expression is found nowhere in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and its outrageous use here, by employees of the North Carolina Department of the Environment, amply reveals the intent of the exhibitors.
Furthermore, many researchers now believe that the scrolls are the remains of libraries from the Jerusalem region, and that they include a corpus of around 100 texts written precisely by Temple priests.
Since the museum is a state-run institution, the role of government officials in displaying religiously controversial artifacts must also be addressed.
This is, of course, a serious issue that should be carefully examined by major news sources. Instead, we have silence, viciously implied innuendo about Jewish culture coming from North Carolina authorities, mendacious claims about a fabricated "most scholars believe" consensus that no longer exists, and a continuing pattern of pandering to religious (and, I might add, financial) interests that has no place in a "museum of natural sciences."
View from Here
This is in fact a biased and misleading exhibit, in which the current state of research on the Dead Sea Scrolls has been carefully distorted to cater to a Christian perspective.
In a word, the Raleigh museum (which is run by the North Carolina Department of the Environment) agreed to downplay and conceal the evidence brought to light by a major group of secular-minded, Jewish researchers who, over the past decade, have rejected the old "Qumran-sectarian" theory of scroll origins, and to physically exclude them from participating in the lecture series accompanying the exhibit.
The museum's press release states that the "group" who, according to the exhibitors, wrote the scrolls "saw themselves as the 'true Israel' and viewed those living in Jerusalem, including the priesthood at the Temple, as corrupt."
What most readers of the press release will not know, is that the expression "true Israel" was a term first used by a number of early Church fathers, who believed that Christians were the "true Israel" and that the Jews were evil sinners. The expression is found nowhere in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and its outrageous use here, by employees of the North Carolina Department of the Environment, amply reveals the intent of the exhibitors.
Furthermore, many researchers now believe that the scrolls are the remains of libraries from the Jerusalem region, and that they include a corpus of around 100 texts written precisely by Temple priests.
Since the museum is a state-run institution, the role of government officials in displaying religiously controversial artifacts must also be addressed.
This is, of course, a serious issue that should be carefully examined by major news sources. Instead, we have silence, viciously implied innuendo about Jewish culture coming from North Carolina authorities, mendacious claims about a fabricated "most scholars believe" consensus that no longer exists, and a continuing pattern of pandering to religious (and, I might add, financial) interests that has no place in a "museum of natural sciences."
For further information on this propoganda masquerading as an exhibit, previously dished out to the public in various private "science" museums around the country, see, e.g., http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/did-christian-agenda-lead-biased-dead-sea-scrolls-exhibit-san-diego .