\n<\/p>\nThe administration\u2019s concerns came into focus in July, when a White House report charged that the National Museum of American History had become \u201csubject to institutional capture by a radical, activist ideology that is fundamentally opposed to telling the noble, honest story of the great country we know and love.\u201d Bunch pushed back in a memo to Smithsonian staffers, calling the report \u201cnot a fair characterization of the work.\u201d Later that month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of the Interior to post signage around the museum about the report\u2019s findings.\n<\/p>\n
In their August letter, Burgum and Haley argued that federal agencies could not \u201cin good conscience\u201d continue loaning artifacts, enabling procurement processes or making discretionary grants to the Smithsonian under its current leadership, citing more than $1 billion in annual congressional appropriations. They also suggested the institution may have committed \u201csignificant violations of federal antidiscrimination law,\u201d alleging its culture may have created a hostile work environment and allocated opportunities and funding on the basis of race, ethnicity and other protected characteristics. Those allegations have not been adjudicated, and no formal enforcement action has been announced. The New York Times reported that Bunch said pressure did not drive his decision, though he acknowledged, \u201cI have to be honest, it has been stressful.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The Smithsonian\u2019s Board of Regents, led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Vice President JD Vance, will appoint Bunch\u2019s successor. Roberts praised Bunch for \u201chis distinguished service for the past seven years in the Smithsonian\u2019s top job,\u201d adding that the Regents \u201chave benefited greatly from his wisdom, vision and leadership.\u201d Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Signal that he hopes the next secretary \u201cwill not treat the Institution as a battleground for his culture wars,\u201d but instead \u201ctakes seriously the mission of the national museum complex that he or she leads.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
How a nation tells its own history shapes how the next generation understands both its blessings and its failures. Scripture repeatedly commands the people of God to remember and to teach their children what He has done, and to do so truthfully rather than selectively. That same principle applies to civic memory. Christians have a stake in both halves of this debate: that America\u2019s genuine achievements be told honestly, and that genuine wrongs not be airbrushed away. The Smithsonian\u2019s future direction will help determine which version of our national story reaches millions of visitors each year, and that is worth praying over.\n<\/p>\n
Let us pray for the Smithsonian\u2019s leaders and regents as they select a new secretary, and for a truthful, honest telling of our nation\u2019s history for generations to come.\n<\/p>\n
How are you praying about this issue? Share your prayers and scriptures in the comments below.<\/h4>\n
(Excerpt from the Daily Signal. Photo Credit: Leonid Andronov \/ Canva).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III is stepping down by the end of the year, capping a tenure marked by escalating conflict between the institution and the Trump administration. Bunch\u2019s departure raises questions about the direction of the museums that house the nation\u2019s most visited collections of American history and culture, and about who<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[5955,3515,10066,10703,471],"class_list":["post-32185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-prayer","tag-bunch","tag-chief","tag-depart","tag-smithsonian","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}