An uncovered mummy, to offend the easily offended.
Although I can understand the importance of religion, I wish people would stop trying to force their own beliefs on others.
Several British museums have been forced by small religious groups to close coffin lids, remove skeletons and only display mummies if they are covered with a shroud. The next step in the agenda of those groups is to completely ban such artefacts from being exposed, because they claim it is against the religious beliefs of our ancestors to put bodies on show.
The Egypt gallery at Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery now has half-closed coffin lids on its display of mummies. Manchester University Museum covered up an unwrapped mummy and removed the head of an Iron Age bog body. The Museum of London removed the skeleton of a boy with rickets.
In a new book Dr Tiffany Jenkins, of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), pointed out that mummies, skeletons and skulls are often the most popular display in museums.
Dr Jenkins feared that the guidance will mean that eventually there will be no human remains on display at all for fear of offending any number of small groups.
I have news for the offended religious people: you can choose not to enter the freakin’ museums. Going to a museum just to say “Oh, I’m part of the Pagan organisation Honouring the Ancient Dead and I’m soooo offended by that naked mummy,” is just plain stupid. It’s also stupid for museum managers to give in to the demands of those wackos. Just put a sign at the door warning them that offensive material is on display, or ban them from entering altogether.
