Bad news for "all" art patrons: The Museum of Biblical Art Is closing

SLATE MAGAZINE
By Ruth Graham

A visitor in the main gallery of the Museum of Biblical Art during a preview on May 10, 2005 in New York. The museum announced it would be closing in June.

NEW YORK---The Museum of Biblical Art, a 10-year-old Manhattan institution which “celebrates and interprets art inspired by the Bible,” announced Tuesday it will shut down in June. Why couldn’t this respected institution survive? The answer isn’t flattering to either secular art patrons or religious ones. Perhaps the problem was that pesky aroma of Christianity. But the museum’s closure should also embarrass wealthy Christians, who ought to have been thrilled to support a rare serious-minded institution devoted to the Bible’s influence on culture. It’s a shame that in order to survive, a museum like MOBIA apparently has to become either overtly “faith-based,” or not frighten anyone by even including the word “Biblical” in its title. [link]