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"Solomon's Temple Tablet may be the most significant archaeological finding yet" in Israel
A sandstone tablet with an inscription very similar to 2 Kings 12 may be extremely significant both in biblical archaeology and Israeli religious politics.

The ten lines of Phoenician script describes King Jehoash's orders "to buy quarry stones and timber and copper and labour to carry out the duty with the faith" in repairing the First Temple.

If it's authentic, "it would be a first-of-its kind piece of physical evidence describing events in a manner that adheres to the narrative in the Bible," says the Tel Aviv newspaper Ha'aretz, which broke the story yesterday. It can also increase tension between Jerusalem's Jews and Muslims. "Muslim clerics insist, despite overwhelming archaeological evidence, that no Jewish shrine ever stood at [the Temple Mount]," the Associated Press explains. "That claim was made by Palestinian officials in failed negotiations with Israel in 2000 over who would be sovereign there." There are two mosques currently on the site.

Gold flecks burned into the tablet suggest it might actually have been part of Solomon's Temple, says Amos Bean, director of the Geological Survey of Israel. "These specks of gold are not natural material, but a sign of human activity," he told the AP. "They could be from gold-plated objects in the home of a very rich man, or a temple. … It's hard to believe that anyone would know how to do these things to make it look real."

The Geological Survey of Israel is standing firmly beside the artifact. "Our findings show that it is authentic," says Shimon Ilani, whose geological tests confirm that the writing dates to the 9th century B.C.

But the GSI was the second organization to examine the tablet. The Jerusalem collector who owns the tablet first went to the Israel Museum, but curators there couldn't rule whether it was a forgery. Museum officials have so far avoided press comment on this finding.

Gabriel Barkai, an Israeli archaeologist from Bar Ilan University's Land of Israel Studies Department, told Ha'aretz that it's too early to pass judgment. "The problem here is that circumstances of the finding are not clear," he said. "We should wait for the official scientific publication, at which time we will be able to probe this finding carefully. Right now, of course, we can't rule out any possibility. It's too bad that a matter of this sort was kept under wraps, apparently due to business concerns." But if it turns out to be what it seems, Barkai says, it could be "the most significant archaeological finding yet in Jerusalem and the Land of Israel."

Ashcroft decries anti-religious bigotry
In a Denver speech to 1,000 members of faith-based charities, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said they had been discriminated against. "Unfortunately, over the last several decades, the government has discriminated against people of faith who are striving to do good for others," he said. "Out of fear, ignorance and occasional bigotry, faith-based groups have been prohibited from competing for federal funding on a level playing field with secular groups."

But Bush's faith-based initiative is righting those wrongs, he suggested. "For the first time in a long time, our leaders in Washington understand what Americans of all religious backgrounds have long held to be true: through faith, all things are possible."

Of course, he had his detractors. "Civil rights groups, who say the administration's plan to give religious organizations government money for social services represents an illegal infringement on the separation of church and state, accused Mr. Ashcroft of distorting the historical record," reports The New York Times, which doesn't give any examples of such "distortion.". "And they questioned whether it was proper for him, as the legal officer charged with overseeing civil rights enforcement, to be lobbying on such a divisive political issue."

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January (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47