Violence and the Bible in America

This op-ed written by Piyush “Bobby” Jindal is significant to the topic of violence against the LGBTQ+ community as it relates to the Bible in America. Jindal states that he “hold[s] the view…that marriage is between one man and one woman” and that this is a “faith-driven view” (Jindal). While Jindal was raised in a Hindu household he converted to Catholicism, and now considers himself an evangelical Catholic. This is to say that while Jindal doesn’t explicitly state what faith he is talking about, it is Catholicism. His statement which refers to his faith is quite unique as many politicians skirt around the subject and opt for a more politically correct statement that they view the institution of marriage in the traditional way. In this piece, Jindal describes why he believes it is important that the Marriage and Conscience Act be passed. The act would effectively “prohibit the state from denying a person, company or non-profit group a license, accreditation, employment of contract… based on the person or entity’s religious views on the institution of marriage” (Jindal). Through his support of this act Jindal is not explicitly inciting violence, but the ideas at hand in this act lead to the inclusion of this op-ed in our exhibit. This act inherently “others” members of the LGBTQ+ community by reducing them to a thing that a portion of the American population doesn’t need to accept, and further feels the need to obtain explicit government protection to uphold their refusal to accept the community. This mentality breeds dangerous ideologies. When same-sex marriage is seen as something wholly different than heterosexual marriage this insinuates that members of the LGBTQ+ community are materially different than those who are not. It is easy to see how this can quickly lead to discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, and further how physical violence can ensue in a community that believes members of the LGBTQ+ community are fundamentally different than themselves. Any attempt to “other” a marginalized group is an act of violence to a degree against that community, and therefore Jindal’s op-ed found a place in our museum.

The music video to Macklemore, Ryan Lewis, and Mary Lambert’s “Same Love” features a host of imagery that paints a clear picture of the suffering and violence that members of the LGBTQ+ community face in the context of the Bible in America. The nature of the video format allows the song to clearly show what the artists sing about. For instance, as Macklemore raps that “right-wing conservatives think [being queer is] a decision” and that LGBTQ+ folks “can be cured with some treatment and religion” the camera pans to an altar with an open Bible and two large crosses in a church (Macklemore, Lewis, Lambert). This makes it clear that while Macklemore does not outright say it, this song is talking about the problematic way that the Bible, and the Christian religion, impact the LGBTQ+ community. Clips of American flags are prevalent throughout the video highlighting that this song is targeting the struggles of the LGBTQ+ community specifically in America. Within our exhibit, this item gives a clear picture of what it is like to be LGBTQ+ in America because the video follows the life of a gay man from birth to death. The audience sees the divide that his sexuality causes his family, and a scene where a straight couple insults him and his boyfriend. The video/song gives another concrete example of violence in the form of cyberbullying when Macklemore raps that we “call each other f—s behind the keys of a message board” (Macklemore, Lewis, Lambert). This form of violence against the LGBTQ+ community is especially dangerous to children in modernity who have spent their childhood on the internet. This video highlights the perceived difference between the LGBTQ+ community and others, and it is these perceived differences that breed discrimination, inequality, and acts of violence against this community. Additionally, references to other struggles for equality, such as the Civil Rights movement, with clips of Martin Luther King Jr., serve as a further critique of the nation and its problematic marginalization of communities and the violence that these communities suffer.

This image depicts a counter-demonstration to the Protect LGBTQ Workers Rally on the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington DC. The members of this picture are members of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), a congregation considered to be a vicious hate group by many. The posters that the group holds up are packed with vile phrases and Bible verses that their church believes justify their claims. For example, one sign boldly reads “God still hates f–s”, one of the WBC’s infamous taglines, and quotes from Romans 1:18-32 and Leviticus 18:22. Leviticus 18:22 reads “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination” (NRSV). The Romans passage is more extensive, but lines of importance would seemingly be Romans 1:27 “... men, giving up their natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error” (NRSV). In these passages, the idea of a man being with another man is explored and looked on with disapproval, though ultimately this is just one interpretation of these texts. This photo was taken in opposition to a rally that had a goal to protect members of the LGBTQ+ community, so by default, this group is arguing for the harm of the LGBTQ+ community. Additionally, the WBC has infamously protested at the funerals of US soldiers who they view as fighting for a nation that tolerates homosexuality. If the WBC feels this hostile towards soldiers and their convoluted connection to homosexuality, then it is more than implied that the WBC has an utter hatred for the LGBTQ+ community itself. As the WBC uses the Bible and its bigoted interpretations of it to advocate for the erasure of the LGBTQ+ community, and it is a group located in America (Topeka, Kansas), they are an important addition to our exhibit on the intersection of violence in the context of the Bible in America.

This short news video showcases both anti- and pro-abortion protestors gathered outside of the Metro Hall in Louisville, Kentucky shortly after a state law banning abortions was passed. Prominent in the video is the influence of the Bible. Its physical presence is represented as a protestor holds it while speaking to the crowd and its text is referenced in protestor’s signs stating, “Fear god who is able to destroy soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28 NSRV) and “You shall not murder” (Exod. 20:30 NSRV). Many of the arguments against abortion have religious and often Christian roots, and the scene outside Metro Hall showcases how the Bible is used in these arguments. The presence of the Bible in the speakers’ hands and the quotes on the posters suggest a disapproval from a Christian and moral God regarding abortion and suggest that God is on the side of those against abortions. The image shows how strongly the Bible is pulled into a public and influential debate in America.

Though the protest featuring this biblical quote is a peaceful one, it is important to the story of violence and women relating to the Bible in America because of the inherent and complicated violence surrounding abortion rights. The abortion debate is an issue of violence from many perspectives. From the anti-abortion point of view, it is about violence against an unborn child and from the pro-abortion perspective it is about violence against women’s reproductive rights and potential violence through unsafe abortions if legal safe options are not available. Oftentimes, anti-abortion religious groups will protest outside of abortion clinics, harassing, vandalizing, or guilting patients heading in or out. These intricate ways that violence is woven into biblically infused anti-abortion protests and rationales shows this artifact’s importance in an exhibit about violence and women in relation to the Bible in America.

The artifact depicts Tituba, a slave of Samuel Parris, with accentuated witch-like characteristics speaking to a group of young girls. Tituba was an important part of the Salem Witch Trials, one of the most violent biblically inspired acts against women in America. After his child and several of his friends developed a strange illness, rumors of witchcraft began to float around the village and, suspecting Tituba, minister Samuel Parris beat Tituba for weeks until she confessed to being a witch and indicted others of the same crime. Ultimately, Tituba’s accusations and confessions as forced by Samuel Parris lead to the conviction and execution of twenty people, most of who were women, for witchcraft.

This artifact and its related event are important biblically connected examples of violence against women because of Samuel Parris who, beyond his initial connection to the trials through Tituba is believed to have played a key role in inciting the mass hysteria through his sermons. In a sermon during the witch trials, Parris states, “Christ knows how many of these Devils there are in his Churches. As in our text there was one among the twelve. And so in our Churches God knows how many Devils there are: whither 1.2.3. or. 4. In 12” (Parris) referring to the biblical verse John 6:70 as proof of witches, touched by the Devil, living within the village of Salem. Parris’s passionate sermons used the Bible as a tool to inspire violence against the women living in his own community. Tituba’s witch-like image depicted in this artifact thus serves as a prime example of how the Bible was used to justify this series of acts of violence against women in America.

The marble statue Hagar created in 1875, shows the biblical woman Hagar, a concubine of Abraham and the mother of Abraham’s son Ishmael. Sarah, Abraham’s barren wife, requested that the couple have a child through the surrogacy of her “Egyptian slave girl,” Hagar (The New Oxford Annotated Bible Genesis 16).  Hagar flees after Sarah treats her harshly but eventually returns after an encounter with God. The story of Hagar highlights her oppression. This varies from the story of Exodus in which the Egyptians oppress the Israelites into slavery because Hagar is an Egyptian. After God fulfills his promise of decedents for Abraham and Sarah and Sarah gives birth to Isaac, Hagar and Ismael are cast out. God cares for Hagar and Ismael in the wilderness and promises to “make a nation of him” (NOAB Genesis 21:13).

The artist, Mary Edmonia Lewis, was the child of a Chippewa woman and an Afro-Caribbean father. Edmonia Lewis faced racial discrimination and scholars suggest that she identified with the biblical story of Hagar (The Bible and American Culture 252). Although acquitted, Lewis faced racially motivated accusations of theft and poisoning as well as attacks by mobs (Edmonia Lewis, Britannica). Lewis sculpted images reflecting anti-slavery sentiment as well as multiple versions of Hagar. Lewis eventually left the United States expressing, “I was practically driven to Rome in order to obtain the opportunities for art and culture, and to find a social atmosphere where I was not constantly reminded of my color. The land of liberty had not room for a colored sculptor.” The false accusations and general discrimination against Edmonia Lewis prompted her to leave the country much like Hagar’s feelings of oppression prompted her to leave Abraham and Sarah.

This work reflects the violence of discrimination and oppression both in the bible and in the United States in the mid to late 1800s.  Like the other objects in this exhibit, the creator, Edmonia Lewis, uses scripture to relate to historical events or personal experiences.

This Henry Ossawa Tanner painting depicts the Holy Family’s escape from King Herod (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). In this Biblical story recounted in Matthew, God tells Joseph in a dream to take the infant Jesus and Mary to Egypt to escape King Herod, who intended to kill the child. The family stayed in Egypt until the death of Herod and were first instructed to travel to Israel and then to Galilee. Jesus’s time in Egypt and in Galilee fulfilled the words of the prophets.

 Henry Ossawa Tanner was an African American artist known for his Biblically themed works. His father was a bishop in an African Methodist Episcopal Church (Metropolitan Museum of Art). Tanner left the United States and studied and lived in France. He left the United States largely because of the discrimination he faced due to his race. He expressed this by saying, “I cannot fight prejudice and paint at the same time." This painting of the Holy Family’s journey to Egypt reflects the sentiment of Tanner as he felt expelled from his land due to the threat of violence and discrimination. Joseph and Mary moved because of similar reasons of persecution. Both the biblical scene portrayed in the Flight into Egypt and Tanner’s experience as a black painter in America led to fleeing one land for another.

Like Mary Edmonia Lewis, Tanner uses a biblical story to tell an autobiographical narrative. The violence experienced by these artists in the form of discrimination relates to the experiences of persecution seen in the bible. Both artists and the Holy Family felt so unsafe or excluded that they had to leave their homes.

The Liberty Bell has become a national symbol of freedom, cited by abolitionists, women’s suffragists, and Civil Rights leaders. The bell was once known as the State House bell and resided in the Pennsylvania State House. The bell would ring to call lawmakers to meetings or townspeople to hear the news (National Park Service). The bell contains an inscription from the King James Version of the Bible: “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land unto All the Inhabitants thereof” (KJV Leviticus 25:10).  The chapter from which this verse comes recounts God’s words to Moses. The rest of this verse states, “it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family” (KJV Leviticus 25: 10).  

The Liberty Bell got its name and its symbolism of freedom and justice from the inscribed Bible quotation. An Abolitionist newspaper was the first to refer to it by this name (National Park Service).  Women’s suffragists adopted the Justice Bell, a replica of the Liberty Bell as a symbol of their movement. Mrs. George Piersol of the League of Women Voters stated, "...we meet at this hallowed shrine of Liberty to celebrate the completion of democracy and the dawn of an era of justice." Piersol shows that the biblically linked Liberty Bell and its replica the Justice Bell were a symbol of freedom from the political oppression of women.

The Liberty Bell’s role in both the anti-slavery and women’s suffrage movements shows a biblical link between the call for freedom from oppression and discrimination. Although discrimination and oppression do not always result in physical violence, the two cause psychological and societal harm.  

Showcasing a disturbing image of a child being ripped from its mother’s hands at a slave auction, this artifact is an important piece to understanding violence against enslaved women as connected to the Bible. Such separation of the family was common practice in American slavery leaving black enslaved families separated from their own children, mothers, siblings, and fathers. Though this image and concept may initially appear unconnected to the role of the Bible in America, it is important to understand that the Bible was used both to support and condemn the practice of slavery in America. As one of the most important texts in the country, the Bible was used a source of evidence to determine whether slaver was a religiously sanctioned ethical practice. Thus, the issue of slavery and all the violence associated with it was tied tightly to the text of the Bible. One way the Bible was used to justify slavery was by calling in the story of Ham. One example of this is Josiah Priest’s argument in Slavery as it relates to the Negro or African Race, “The announcement of God by the mouth of Noah, relative to the whole race of Ham, pointing out in so many words in the clearest and most specific manner, that [the Negro] were adjusted to slavery” (Priest). In justifying American slavery through a biblical lens, Priest justifies all the violence against women and families that comes with it, marking the biblical text he uses with violent connotations. However, Bible verses were also used to show how the separation of families as depicted in this artifact went against biblical teachings. Such an argument is shown in a Slave Petition written to the province of Massachusetts, “Our children our taken from us by force… how can a slave perform the duties of a husband to a wife or parent to a child” (Slave Petition). Such a verse shows how the Bible was also used to condemn the violence separating women from their children. This argument occurs while simultaneously the Bible is used to support the practice of American slavery and as such its associated violence shows important complexities in the relationship of the Bible in America to violence towards women. This artifact serves as a key starting point to dive into a discussion of how the Bible is connected to violence against enslaved women.   

The Ku Klux Klan dates back to the Reconstruction era. Former Confederates and angry white Southerners terrorized their Black neighbors, threatening, looting, and lynching. In 1915, William J. Simmons re-established the organization; in 1916, he published a booklet known as the Kloran, which functions as a rule book for KKK members and outlines “Klancraft”: rituals, beliefs, structures, and symbols. 

As noted by Daryl Johnson, former Homeland Security analyst and domestic terrorism expert, the KKK often overlaps with the Christian Identity movement, and the organization’s members are virtually always adherents to the movement’s beliefs. The Christian Identity movement is defined by the idea that the Bible is a true history of the white race, establishing white Christians as the superior race, morally and biologically. According to this particular genre of white supremacy, other races are “mud races,” and white people are the only true Christians. The Kloran incorporates these beliefs, and extensively references Christian iconography in its symbols and rituals: baptisms, cross burnings, white robes and hoods (to represent “purity and cleanliness”) (Johnson). The latter two symbols were used to menace African American communities in the United States for decades, and often were accompanied by scenes of brutality. 

Not only does the Kloran advise the use of these Christian symbols in Klan practices, it also includes directives for the explicit use of the Bible in rituals. Amongst other references to the Bible and Christian ideology, on page twelve, in a set of instructions for an opening ceremony, the text describes the setup for a ritual altar: “…the Kludd will advance to the sacred altar with Bible and vessel of dedication fluid; standing at point of sword, he will place the Bible, opened at the 12th chapter of Romans, on and near the corner of sacred altar to his left and near him…” (Simmons 13). (Ironically, Romans 12 advocates against earthly vengeance and counsels hospitality, mercy, and love.) By its inclusion in ritual and beliefs, we can understand the Bible as essential to the racial violence enacted by the Ku Klux Klan and its contemporary successors in the Christian Identity movement.

On July 27, 1996, a pipe bomb went off at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, during the Summer Olympics. The blast killed one woman, 44-year-old Alice Hawthorne, and injured more than 100 others. This attack was followed by a January 1997 bombing at a women’s clinic in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs, killing six; another at a lesbian club in Atlanta in February of the same year, wounding five; and a fourth at another women’s clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, injuring one and killing another. 

In 2003, at the conclusion of a five-year-manhunt for the bomber, Eric Rudolph was captured in western North Carolina and brought to trial in Atlanta and Birmingham. Two years later, in April 2005, Rudolph entered into a plea deal with United States federal prosecutors to spare himself from the death penalty. Shortly after the announcement of his guilty plea, Rudolph released through his attorneys a lengthy confession. Totalling eleven pages, the confession was both a manifesto and an admission of guilt; he detailed exactly why he did it, why he did it, and why he still believed these actions were not only justified but moral. Rudolph was strongly anti-abortion, homophobic, and anti-government, and in his writing, he accused the United States government of promoting the “baby-murder” and the “homosexual agenda.” Legal action, he insisted, was no longer sufficient to cease the “massacre” of abortion. Those who argued otherwise, especially those Republican leaders who called themselves “Pro-Life,” were not only hypocritical but equally culpable for “the wholesale slaughter of children.” In his argument, though he omits any explicit mention of the Bible or Jesus Christ by name, he cites the Bible in his condemnation of these politicians: “The Republican party is the modern equivalent to the Pharisaical sect in ancient Judea. "You are like whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and all uncleanness. Even so you outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and inequity." Matthew 23:28.” He goes on to cite Romans and the Psalms, building the argument that his actions were justified by his Christian faith. In doing so, he established a clear relationship between his extreme violence and the Bible.

On May 25, 2020, a Black man named George Floyd was brutally murdered by police officers on duty, handcuffed and pinned to the ground, with his neck under the knee of Officer Derek Chauvin. His death sparked a social reckoning across the United States about police brutality and racism, along with a wave of protests. These protests occurred in virtually every state and city in the nation, and Washington, D.C. was no exception. 

On June 1, 2020, in the same location as nearly a week of protests, Americans once again peacefully gathered in Lafayette Square, a public park directly across from the White House. As then-President Donald Trump addressed reporters from the Rose Garden, a sudden shift occurred. Police officers and National Guard units began to fill the park, and shortly before 7 p.m., they fired flash grenades and tear gas canisters at the protesters. Mounted officers and colleagues in riot gear advanced, clearing the park of civilians. While the president spoke of his support for peaceful protesters, the sound of explosions and shouts from the fleeing crowd were clearly audible. 

Just minutes later, Trump, along with a small crowd of officials and associates, left the White House gates (an unprecedented journey for him) and began to cross the park, walking towards the historical St. John’s Episcopal Church. This church is known as the “Church as the Presidents,” and has played host to every U.S. president since Madison. Trump’s visit, though, seemed largely symbolic and detached. Standing in front of the building, the president held up a copy of the Bible for a 17-minute photo session, and in a now-infamous response to a reporter who asked if it was his Bible, he said: “It’s a Bible.” As emphasized by both the outraged clergy of that church, including the bishop Mariann E. Budde, and religious leaders across the United States; he did not quote Scripture, he did not pray, he did not speak to the power of religion to heal the wounds of injustice, he simply held the Bible aloft as a prop. In this moment of symbolic manipulation, he signaled that not only were the protests just minutes earlier antithetical to Biblical values in some way, but also that the brutal and unnecessary violence used to disperse their nonviolent gathering was justified and supported by the Bible.

The drawing The Men Who Are Refusing to Bow to the Great Image created in 1925 illustrates the story of King Nebuchadnezzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3 (New Revised Standard Version). The story follows that the King Nebuchadnezzar built a gold image in the city of Babylon and instructed everyone to worship the image. Failure to worship the gold image would lead one to be thrown in fire. Three Jews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego chose to commit to their faith in God and refused to worship and serve Nebuchadnezzar’s gods and images. Consequently, they were thrown into a blazing furnace to die. God’s angel came into the furnace and protected the three Jews such that their bodies, clothes, hair showed no signs of burning. The story ends with King Nebuchadnezzar instructing the nation of Babylon to revere the Jews’ God.

Reverend Branford Clarke, artist and supporter of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), overlays the story of the three biblical Jews with that of the KKK in Alma White’s book on The Ku Klux Klan in Prophesy. In this case, the pope with a triregno on his head and cross in hand is the golden image that is worshipped by various groups such as Knights of Columbus (K of C), a small group in the KKK that believes in the pope’s authority. On the left, however, there are three KKK figures acting like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and turning away from the catholic power. Protectively, they hold the Holy Bible and the American flag.

Through intertwining the Biblical passage and the KKK, Clarke is portraying KKK as “defender of Protestantism and America” (Neal 347), indicating that the mission and actions of the KKK such as lynching of African American slaves. This is another example of how the Bible has historically been used to justify the oppression of one race by another.

The painting Kill the Indian, save the Man created by David Fadden (1993-2021) represents thousands of Native American children who were kidnapped and separated from their families to attend Christian missionary schools. The establishment of Indian schools came after the US government implemented policies in 1887-1943aimed at acculturing and assimilating the Indians into the American society. Christian organizations and persons were at front in this mission. Captain Richard Henry Pratt, the founder of the first Indian boarding school and author of the phrase “Kill the Indian, save the Man,” viewed it as America’s duty to civilize and Christianize the Indian savages (Barrows 52). To attain this goal, key paths were drawn.

Schools were tasked with implementing curriculums that focused heavily on the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12), and the book of Psalms. Moreover, upon arrival, the children were forced to abandon their religious and cultural beliefs and adopt Christian values. For example, the children were given posters that stated, “Let Jesus save you. Come out of your blanket, cut your hair…Have a Christian family with one wife for life…Go to church often and regularly” (Grinde 4).

The violence associated with this piece is relevant to the masked utilization of the Bible’s role in justifying racism in America. To the mainstream European-American society at the time, the efforts of the government and Christian missionaries to create an inclusive America seemed noble. However, these same efforts caused anguish, fear, and pain in Native American children whose beliefs were belittled, whose families were torn apart, and whose lives in the boarding schools were marked with a physical and emotional violence- all under the guise of education and inclusion

This photograph by Cathal McNaughton captures the Tree of Life, a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and flowers dedicated to the 11 individuals killed during a Sabbath service shooting. Notable is the function of the Bible in the shooter’s purpose behind such violent act. Robert Bowers had expressed his antisemitic beliefs through several posts on Gab, a social media platform. In one post, Bowers quotes John’s gospel saying, “jews are the children of satan. (John 8:44)…the lord jesus is come in the flesh” (Dearden). While Jesus does indeed refer to Jews as being of Satan, He is refering to Jews who refuse in Jesus's teachings. Bowers, however, interprets it to mean the entire Jewish race. Moreover, before the attack, he posted that, “HIAs [Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society] likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics. I’m going in” (Dearden).  The hatred towards Jews in America is partly rooted in the widespread stereotype that they control businesses and financial markets (Anti-Defamation League). However, Bowers’s first post suggests that the Bible has influenced the antisemitic beliefs in America.  

Racism oftentimes is thought of as one more powerful race oppressing another. This 2018 shooting is an example of a problematic idea commonly found in antisemitic ideology challenges of “punching up.” Because Jews are more powerful, the argument goes, they cannot possibly experience bigotry or oppression. However, the idea that Jews are more powerful is one inherent to antisemitism in the first place, and is entirely false. The Tree of Life shooting is a tragic example of how Jewish Americans continue to face prejudice and religious violence. Unfortunately, due to the continued stereotyping of Jewish people as more wealthy or powerful, the idea of “punching up” persists, and these kinds of hate crimes are often minimized or glossed over, not subject to the same public moral outrage expressed in the wake of similar crimes against other minorities.