Axios is reporting that the second-most powerful official at the State Department, Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau, has vetoed a U.S. international exhibit featuring a statue of a bull. Landau was worried the sculpture might look like Baal, a pagan god associated with Satanic child sacrifice.
There is to be an international exposition next year in Belgrade, Serbia, which will last from mid-May to mid-August. International expositions, or world fairs, have a long and storied history, one that intersects with Seventh-day Adventist history. Congress allocated money in support of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair—called the Columbian Exposition in honor of the 400 years that had elapsed since Columbus landed in the Western Hemisphere—but only on condition that the Fair be closed on Sundays. This prompted A.T. Jones to testify before Congress regarding the Sabbath/Sunday issue, and to protest Congress’ attempted establishment of Sunday religious observances in violation of the First Amendment.
For the Belgrade world’s fair, the U.S. had planned to feature a statue of a bucking bull at an exhibit celebrating the American West. On Aug. 19, Chris Landau sent an email to staffers about it:
“I remain somewhat concerned by the Golden Bull imagery! Did a quick internet search and don't want it to become a distraction. The golden calf from the Bible is often portrayed as a golden bull.”
Landau’s email included hyperlinked footnotes and images of golden bull worship. He explored the ancient history of Baal as well as the "Modern Cultural Comparisons."
"The imagery of a golden bull or calf is frequently invoked metaphorically today. For instance, critics and commentators sometimes compare modern financial fixations—typified by the famous Charging Bull statue on Wall Street to the ancient worship of material idols."
The email, which was forwarded to multiple officials, “elicited eyerolls and snickers inside the State Department,” according to the Axios report. Nevertheless, the bull statue was put on hold as State officials spent the last few weeks debating the issue.
“It's just totally weird stuff and it's really indicative of [Landau],” a State Department official said.
“Literally, no one thinks about Baal unless they're spending way too much time online, which Landau is,” a different U.S. official lamented.
“It's like an episode of Veep [an HBO comedy featuring Julia Louis-Dreyfus]. Someone should tell him this is a Western bull, not a Near East bull,” a third U.S. official said.
Chris Landau’s critics have a point. In Christian America, a sculpture of a bull or calf has never been associated with Baal worship, not in any way, shape, or form. No American would look at any sculpture of a bull, e.g., the one on Wall Street, and confabulate any association with Baal worship.
But Chris Landau is not a Christian. He is a Jew. His father, George Landau, immigrated from Austria to Colombia just after the Anschluss with Nazi Germany in 1938, eventually coming to the United States in 1941. George Landau pursued a successful career as a diplomat, serving as U.S. ambassador to Paraguay, Chile, and Venezuela. Chris evidently followed his father’s career choice of diplomatic service.
Sadly, a bull as a symbol of Baal worship, or fertility cult worship, is associated with Israel. There is the famous incident in at Mt. Sinai, in which Aaron allowed the Israelites to cast a statue of a bull to worship—and the licentious behavior associated with fertility cults ensued:
“They gave themselves up to gluttony and licentious reveling. A religion that permits men to devote themselves to selfish or sensual gratification is as pleasing to the multitudes now as in the days of Israel. There are still pliant Aarons in the church who will yield to the desires of the unconsecrated, and thus encourage them in sin.” Ellen White, From Eternity Past, p. 220
There is also the fact that, after the ten northern tribes broke away from Judah and Benjamin, the northern kings set up altars at Bethel and Dan featuring bulls. This is why there was not one single godly king in the history of the northern kingdom of Israel, and it was swept away by the Assyrians in 722 BC. (1 Kings 5:25-33).
According to the Axios story, the exhibits at the world’s fair are not within Landau’s purview of responsibility. Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers is in charge of planning the exposition in Serbia next year. But a senior U.S. official said her role was “hijacked” by Landau: “This is not the [Deputy’s] job,” the official said. “This was just regular planning until he stepped in.”
Perhaps the least troubling aspect of this story is that a State Department official who does not have an American cultural frame of reference has taken over the policing of the American exhibits at a world’s fair.
