Cultural Institutions & Public Memory
Federal control over museums, monuments, and national celebrations, and what religious and constitutional principles say about who owns public memory.
9 questions
- Federal Control Over Museums and Public MemoryEvery religious tradition treats honest memory as a moral obligation — including the memory of national sins.
- Political Control of the Kennedy CenterEvery administration may legitimately influence the direction of an institution it funds, and a public arts center may reasonably weigh its whole audience.
- Ordering the Smithsonian to Remove 'Divisive' ExhibitsA nation's history museums can fairly be asked whether their exhibits are accurate, balanced, and fair — that is a legitimate public interest, and elected…
- Demolishing the White House East Wing for a BallroomThe White House belongs to the public; a president occupies it as a steward, not an owner.
- Painting the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool 'American Flag Blue'The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool needed work, and most of the contracted maintenance is the kind any responsible administration would do.
- A UFC Fight on the White House South LawnSport, celebration, and even spectacle are not what religious traditions condemn; they condemn the use of a shared site to honor whoever currently holds it.
- 'Freedom 250' vs. the America250 CommissionThe country's 250th birthday is the kind of occasion religious traditions describe as belonging to a people, not to a leader — David ascribes his victory…
- Renaming Lake Ontario "Lake America"Erasing a 400-year-old Indigenous place name to punish a trading partner: what religious teachings and the founding framework say about names, memory, and grievance.
- Renaming the USS Doris Miller for a Sitting PresidentReports that the Navy may rename the future USS Doris Miller for the sitting president, examined through scripture on honor and humility and the founders on personal glorification.