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Post by Joanna on Jul 5, 2015 23:58:29 GMT -5
Tough Luck, Satan!Tough luck to those anticipating a seven-foot Baphomet statue on the grounds of the Oklahoma state capitol. The state’s supreme court has ruled that the granite Ten Commandments (above) currently standing on capitol grounds must be removed. The religious monument became the object of national controversy in December 2013, when the Satanic Temple challenged Oklahoma’s acceptance of religious statues at its capitol by proposing the Ten Commandments be joined by a goat-headed Satanic sculpture. The judges ruled 7-2 that the installation of the Ten Commandments at the state capitol violates Article 2, Section 5 of the Oklahoma Constitution, which does not allow public money or property to support a “church denomination or system of religion.” The decision overturns one in March from Oklahoma County District Judge Thomas Prince, who upheld the placement of the monument.
The Oklahoma capitol Ten Commandments slap was placed in 2012, albeit with a couple of typos, including “Sabbath” misspelled “Sabbeth.” Last October, the monument was shattered into several pieces when a man ran his car into slab, reportedly declaring the devil made him do it. The monument was swiftly replaced in January.
The Satanic Temple is distinct from the Church of Satan and positions itself more as an advocacy group confronting challenges to religious freedom in the United States, from abortion laws in Missouri to a Nativity scenes at the Michigan and Florida capitols, where the devil whorshipers added Satanic displays. The Temple unveiled a design for its monument intended for the Oklahoma capitol, inspired by a 19th-century illustration by French occultist Eliphas Lévi. Two children stand on either side of the central horned creature, whose lap is open for those who would like to sit in its presence. The completed statue will be unveiled July 25 in Detroit, although its final destination is unclear.
The idea that placing the Ten Commandments on state government grounds violates separation of church and state seems evident, yet, the battle over such religious monuments is ongoing and intense. Last February, an Alabama House committee unanimously approved a bill to allow a Ten Commandments monument to be constructed at the state capitol and in April, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson signed a bill that ordered the state to build a Ten Commandments monument at its capitol in Little Rock. The most famous example is likely the one located on the grounds of the Texas capitol, erected in 1961. Despite challenges, the Supreme Court ruled in Van Orden v. Perry that Texas could keep its Ten Commandments because the significance of commandments is historic, not just religious. However, on that same day in 2005, the Supreme Court ordered the Ten Commandments display removed from two Kentucky courthouses.
Despite the June 30 ruling, the battle over the Oklahoma monument might not be over. Attorney General Scott Pruitt said in a statement, “Quite simply, the Oklahoma Supreme Court got it wrong. The court completely ignored the profound historical impact of the Ten Commandments on the foundation of Western law.” His office is reportedly requesting a rehearing and stay of banishing the monument in the meantime.Source: Allison Meier, Hyperallergic, June 30, 2015.
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Post by jason on Jul 7, 2015 18:09:07 GMT -5
Instead of fighting the court's decision, Oklahoma should just go ahead and move the Ten Commandments to another site because if it remains on the capitol lawn, the crazy Satanists will start again with wanting their ridiculous Baphomet on the grounds. I'd bet dollars to donuts the devil-worshipers were the ones who smashed the slab last year. |
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Post by natalie on Jul 9, 2015 12:11:55 GMT -5
Satanists caught in Ten Commandments ruling falloutBy Scott Bomboy National Constitution Center 23 hours ago A legal decision in Oklahoma to bar a Ten Commandments monument from its statehouse has a group of Satanists seeking a new home for a huge horned-goat statue of Satan. The Satan MonumentIn fact, the Satanic Temple is now looking for a friend of the devil in Arkansas, and it plans to reveal the 8 1/2 foot tall statue in Detroit later this month. In late June, the Oklahoma Supreme Court said that its state constitution prevented governments from taking any act to benefit a religion, and the Ten Commandments monument at the Capitol had obvious religious overtones. The Satanic Temple had planned since 2013 to have a monument to Satan built and installed in Oklahoma City to sit near the Ten Commandments monument, which was installed in 2012 and paid for with private funds. But before the Temple and the state could tackle the Satan monument issue, the ACLU sued about the Ten Commandments monument, which led the state to put all future monuments on hold. When the Ten Commandments monument decision was announced on June 30, the Temple initially praised the state Court’s move. “The entire point of our effort was to offer a monument that would complement and contrast the 10 Commandments, reaffirming that we live in a nation that respects plurality, a nation that refuses to allow a single viewpoint to co-opt the power and authority of government institutions,” spokesman Lucien Greaves said in an email to the Washington Post. “Given the Court’s ruling, TST no longer has any interest in pursuing placement of the Baphomet monument on Oklahoma’s Capitol grounds.” But now, the project is near completion and the statue, reportedly cost more than $100,000, will have a public debut in Detroit before the Temple finds a suitable location at a government-related site. “It was always our intention to take this wherever it was relevant, wherever it was necessary, and wherever that dialogue needed to take place,” Greaves told the Associated Press. And that destination could be Arkansas. In April 2015, Governor Asa Hutchinson signed a bill allowing a privately funded Ten Commandments monument in Little Rock. The bill made it clear that monument was a historical tribute. “The placing of a monument to the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol would help the people of the United States and of the State of Arkansas to know the Ten Commandments as the moral foundation of the law,” the bill said. That distinction is important. A 2004 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Van Orden v. Perry held that Texas could keep its Ten Commandments monument because of its historical meaning and the location at the state capitol didn’t violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. But the Court also ruled in a 2005 case, McCreary County v. ACLU, that two Ten Commandments displays in Kentucky violated the Establishment Clause because their purpose was to advance religion. Greaves told the AP that his group would decide at a later time if it would pursue moving the Satan monument to Arkansas. However, the battle over the Ten Commandments monument in Oklahoma is far from over. Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said this week the monument will stay in Oklahoma City while the state government asks for a re-hearing and lawmakers draft language for a proposed state constitutional amendment to allow the monument to remain at the capitol. Attachments:
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Post by Kate on Jul 9, 2015 12:40:37 GMT -5
That Satanist statue is not only ugly, it's frightening. I've heard people say that the Satanic Baphomet was based on the Horned God of witchcraft, but the Baphomet is nothing like the Horned God because the Horned God represented the winter months when people hunted animals for food and they didn't hunt goats. The Celtic god Cernunnos had antlers, like a wild animal.
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Post by Sam on Jul 10, 2015 6:18:05 GMT -5
Wherever they put up the Satan statue, there will be problems. Kids will be afraid of it and people will do everything that they can to destroy it or deface it. I don't know any Satanists and I don't want to know any.
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