Satanists propose statue at Oklahoma Capitol

Photo by: Henoc Kivuye

 

A goat-headed and winged, seven-foot-tall statue of Satan sitting in front of a pentagram with two smiling children at its side is an image a group is pushing to grace the Oklahoma Capitol lawn.

A New York-based satanic group submitted a design for the statue at the Oklahoma State Capitol earlier this month.

State Rep. Randy Grau, R-Oklahoma City, said he believes the group might have ulterior motives, gauging the odds of the statue’s actual construction somewhere in the neighborhood of slim to none.

“I think they’re just trying to get some publicity and get their name in the paper,” Grau said. “They don’t have a chance of it being approved or actually getting it installed at the state Capitol.”

The satanic monument design was unveiled in contrast to a Ten Commandments monument already onsite at the Capitol building.

The group claims that because the Oklahoma legislature authorized a privately funded monument placed in 2012, their statue could legally follow suite. Other organizations have shown an interest in submitting designs for additional monuments to be placed on the Capitol grounds as well.

In response, the Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission placed a moratorium, or hold, on additional submissions.

“Two months ago we heard a desire to place a monument on the Capitol grounds,” Trait Thompson, chairman of the commission that oversees the Capitol grounds, said. “Then from there we got indications from a few other groups that they wish to do the same.”

According to the Associated Press, a Hindu group in Nevada, PETA and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster have also made requests for monuments. So far the only other group to actually put forth an official application has been the Satanic Temple. All submissions for additional monuments at the Capitol have to follow rules set by the commission.

“I think people should know that there is a process that all monuments and art requests for the capitol have to go through,” Thompson said. “Any monument or piece of art that is displayed at the Capitol has to be museum quality and has to directly relate to the history and culture of Oklahoma. If the moratorium is lifted on monuments, then that’s what the statue will be judged against.”

Grau doesn’t see the satanic statue as following those guidelines. He said he thinks the Ten Commandments statue more than adequately does, however.

“It’s not a religious statement, it’s a statement about our cultural heritage, our legal heritage, our government and its history, and that’s why it is there,” Grau said of the Ten Commandments monument.

Grau said the satanic statue does not represent Oklahoma culture or history.

“What you have now is that out-of-state groups are threatening to put up or attempting to put up different types of monuments,” Grau said. “I don’t know how they think these are relevant because they appear to be fully religious in nature or pagan in nature.”

The Oklahoma chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit last August questioning the constitutionality of the Ten Commandments monument at the Oklahoma Capitol. State Representative Mike Ritze was the main advocate behind the monument. He paid nearly half the cost out of his own pocket for the monument to be placed.

“The satanic statue issue has nothing to do with the current case about the Oklahoma Ten Commandments monument,” Ritze said in a statement via email.  “The Oklahoma monument is constitutional. It is an exact replica of the one that sits on the Texas State Capitol grounds that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in Van Orden v. Perry. It would be bizarre if Texas can have its Ten Commandments monument but Oklahoma cannot.”

The American Atheists, Inc. filed a lawsuit Monday in Oklahoma City federal court also challenging the Ten Commandments monument. According to the lawsuit their argument states that the monument is an endorsement of religion and discriminates against others’ religious rights.

Jessica Williams, a senior at Oklahoma Christian University, said the controversy surrounding the Ten Commandments monument could have been avoided.

“I think we can resolve a lot of problems if we would just stop putting up anything that has any kind of religious affiliation in public, especially the state Capitol,” Williams said. “If you have one here you’re going to have everyone else and their organizations trying to put something up so they feel like they’re not being marginalized. I say do away with all of it – then there’s not a problem.”

The ACLU case is still pending in court, but if the Ten Commandment statue is removed Williams said she thinks it will cause a major upset.

“I think it would cause a lot of outrage if they took it down,” Williams said. “People who feel strongly about Christianity would feel like they were being attacked. I think we can expect to hear certain Christians say that their religious freedom is being taken away.”

Williams said there is a larger issue at play. The satanic group could be deflecting attention from other religious groups present in Oklahoma.

“It’s unfortunate that everyone is seeing this story only from one perspective,” Williams said. “I feel like whenever people see the headline, ‘Satanist Church wants to put up monument’ they’re automatically going to laugh or just think it’s ridiculous. If people can get past the extreme part of the story and see what this means to other religious groups, hopefully that would cause some change.”

Junior Christian Kincheloe said there are better ways to display faith rather than build a monument.

“If you really want to implement Christianity to people at the state level, it needs to be through your actions and morals,” Kincheloe said. “It’s kind of childish in a sense, both ways, in building a monument.”