Religion in the museum

There are many museums which are devoted to the material culture of one faith. These are likely to be attached to religious buildings although often they make little attempt to interpret the tenets of that faith and often fail to attract audiences who are not already committed to that faith. One such development within Bradford Cathedral, England was developed with over one million pounds worth of Millennium funding. It is clear though that the museum?s remit was to reach a multi-faith audience from within a Christian space and perspective and this simply did not work. In the words of the head of the steering group:

?We reasoned that if we could attract more visitors to the Cathedral, we would be advancing our mission as a place of pilgrimage, and helping people discover their own spiritual realities... presenting Jesus in and to a city where cultures collide, diverse faiths are practised and poverty in all its manifestations is to be seen etched deeply into people?s faces? (Smith, 2000: 1).

The museum did highlight other faiths but from the perspective of the ?dominant culture? as discussed earlier and people were not prepared to pay to visit and it closed within months having failed to attract many visitors.

Despite the fact that religion has been one of the key defining factors of cultures there are very few museums which actually interpret multi faith in the way that the opening quote implies. It is not simply that most do not give equal consideration to different faiths but also that in very many cases museums do not interpret objects in a way that allows their religious meaning or value to be understood as the following quote highlights.

?There are? millions of religious objects in museums, as most fine art anthropology, archaeology, historical and general museums have a high percentage of objects which had a significant religious meaning to their owners and creators? (yet)? ?the majority of objects are either anesthetised as art icons or treated by curators as evidence of the exotic beliefs of people?s remote in time, place or culture?.? (O?Neill, 1996: 189)

In part this is a consequence of increased secularisation and it can be reasoned that this secularisation led to religious objects from contemporary society being interpreted for their aesthetic or folk values. This suggests that they have been rendered powerless by the museum at the expense of the deep meanings that they have or had within societies ? or indeed the emotions that they inspired. Work on the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art confirmed that there were real concerns that such a museum would be unpalatable or even dangerous for a number of reasons. Central of those being that individual require that their religion should offer a unique experience that would off necessity render all other faiths idolatrous and therefore they could not be compared. Comparative religion as an academic mode of study had little support within the religions themselves. Although galleries have traditionally been freer to challenges religious values and attitudes through art this is clearly a sensitive time globally and the Tate Britain, London  removed a controversial work ?God is Great? composed of religious texts representing Christianity, Judaism and Islam immediately after the July 2005 London bombings as they feared it would cause offence. This was done against the artist John Latham?s wishes (Observer, 2005)

It can be argued then that museums, whilst not ideologically or politically impartial, reflect society rather than lead it. Changing attitudes to religion in the world have allowed for, or even forced museums to review the way their collections of artefacts which have religious relevance and resonance are displayed and interpreted.

A museum of religion in this paper then is one which can be defined as a collection of objects, ephemera, photographs and texts relating to more than one religion and representing the belief systems of more than one country but which also interprets the religious meaning of objects in displays.  All of the museums of world faith being considered here offer an interpretation of faiths across the world although from different perspectives. One of the key questions to be debated is whether the inclusion of religious objects as religious objects creates a religious space out of a museum space. Sullivan, director of the Harvard University Centre for the Study of World Religions challenges ?How do religious concerns act as catalysts for change in considering the ownership, exhibition and care of religiously charged material? (Sullivan, 2001:550). The museum then becomes a centre for ?social discourse? rather than passive viewing. In order to address this question some consideration needs to be given to the museums of religion that exist within the world. What is their role and purpose in society? Before considering the Museum of World Religions in Taiwan some attention will now be to the aims and origins of two other contrasting museums of world faith.