Did the kids miss out this year on telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas? Why not sit have the children sit on Satan’s lap instead?
Apparently, there is a satanic group out there that has raised money and presented designs for a 7-foot-tall statue of Satan to put at the Oklahoma state Capitol, where a Ten Commandments monument was placed in 2012. According to the Associated Press, the drawing “depicts Satan as Baphomet, a goat-headed figure with horns, wings and a long beard that’s often used as a symbol of the occult.” Satan sits a throne below a large pentagram with smiling children next to him.
The Satanic Temple spokesman, Lucien Greaves, even mentioned that “the statue will also have a functional purpose as a chair where people of all ages may sit on the lap of Satan for inspiration and contemplation.”
Of course this didn’t make the residents of Oklahoma very happy, with Oklahoma legislator, Rep. Earl Sears, calling the satanic group’s effort “an insult to the good people of the state,” and that he did not see “Satanism as a religion,” saying “they have no place at the state Capitol.”
However, the monument isn’t about spreading the interesting religion of Satanism into the Bible Belt, but an elaborate conversation starter ignited by this satanic group about religious tolerance and the separation of church and state. The Oklahoma chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has previously sued to have the Ten Commandments statue removed since it violates the US Constitution’s “establishment clause” against a national religion.
The creepy, and what non-politically motivated Satanist Magus Peter H. Gilmore calls “ugly” and “pedophilic,” statue of Satan brings up a great point about allowing one or two religious icons on public and state property while excluding all other religions.
I don’t think anyone really wants a huge statue of Satan nonchalantly caressing children in their home town, and I know a simple image of the Ten Commandments isn’t as offensive, but bending the law of the land for one religion and not for other religions does seem unfair.
For now, in response to the satanic proposition, the Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission recently placed a moratorium on considering any new requests with the lawsuit from 2012 to have the statue of the Ten Commandments removed. However, I want to know what you think about this. Do you think the Ten Commandment statue should be removed, and why?
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