WASHINGTON (AFP).- Work on a Washington museum dedicated to The Bible got under way on Thursday with those behind it saying it was a world first that would even attract non-believers.

The Museum of the Bible is scheduled to open its doors in November 2017, putting more than 40,000 artifacts on display which include everything from fragments of the Dead Sea scrolls to rare editions of the text.

The center is to be spread out across 430,000 square feet (40,000 square meters) and will be based in a converted warehouse in downtown Washington near other prestigious national museums based in the US capital.

Organizers said the museum would be the first in the world dedicated exclusively to the holy book, adding they expected it to host temporary exhibitions as well as researchers and students from around the world.

The artifacts on display belong to the private collection of founder Steve Green, a retail tycoon who made headlines last year after a high-profile Supreme Court case concerning health insurance for employees and contraception.

Green's craft supply chain Hobby Lobby had argued it should be exempted on religious grounds from paying for health insurance policies for employees which covered access to birth control. 

The Supreme Court eventually ruled in favor of the Oklahoma firm.

Green said Thursday he expected the museum to appeal to people of all backgrounds.

"Our desire is to engage all people," he told a press conference. "It's a book that has had a huge impact -- it’s been controversial, it's been loved, it's been hated, and we just think people ought to know about it."

Green, the Baptist son of Pentecostal preachers, insisted the museum would not be a monument to creationism, a topic that divides opinion in the United States.

"We're not discussing a lot of the particulars of the book; it's more of a high-level discussion of, here is this book, what is its history and impact and what is its story," Green said. 

"So that (creationism) is not necessarily a discussion for our museum to go to."




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