Workers began removing the Ten Commandments statue from the Oklahoma Capitol grounds Monday night. The Oklahoma Supreme Court decided in June the monument violated the state constitution’s prohibition of public property furthering specific religions.
Since its erection in 2012, the monument was a popular controversial topic in the state. Various organizations from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster to a satanic church from New York made requests to place monuments on capitol grounds.
The statue was destroyed last year when a 29-year-old man drove across the Capitol lawn and smashed into it.
Brady Henderson, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, which filed the original lawsuit against the monument, told the The Oklahoman they would file another lawsuit if the constitution is changed and the monument is brought back.
The Ten Commandments monument will now be located outside of the offices of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.
The removal of the Ten Commandments statue is more than just a constitutional movement. The removal is another battle in the war between the world and Christianity – a war that Christians are losing and have been losing.
We lose a battle every time that a Christian speaks his or her mind opposing same-sex marriage and is pinned as hateful. We lose a battle when a Christian expresses their opposition to abortion, and then are accused of severing women of their individual rights. We lose the battle when a 26-year-old walks onto a college campus with a loaded gun and specifically targets Christians. We lose a battle every time Christians are referred to as bigots, judgmental, close-minded, hypocrites, ignorant or any other slanderous term that has been used to offend us for years. We lose these battles constantly, and we’re losing the war.
Politically, the removal of the statue is fair and necessary. The state of Oklahoma’s constitution prohibits the promotion of any religion on public property. If the Satanists can’t build their seven-foot-tall, goat-headed and winged statue, then Christians should not be able to have their own monument either.
Politics aside, however, we cannot avoid and ignore the battlefield that we step onto every day when we get out of bed. We are the ones who the world hates. We are the bad guys. Outside of Oklahoma Christian University, someone hates you because of who you serve.
We are promised, through Christ, the victory over this world. Until that victory comes, though, we are to suit up in our armor and stand firm through these battles. Though it seems like we’re losing the battles, though it seems like we are helpless and the underdogs, though it seems like there’s no way to win the victory, the war has already been won. The war was won over 2,000 years ago when a man died on a cross, and that man is bigger than any hurtful word, removed statue or gunman that Satan throws our way.
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