09/01/2014 12:20
Satanists raise thousands of dollars to build devil's statue in Oklahoma
A New-York-based group of self-declared satanists raised thousands of dollars by Wednesday to erect a devil's statue - complete with wings and a horned goat's head - in front of the Oklahoma legislature in the heart of the Plains region, the Voice of Russia reports.
The project, says the Satanic Temple, is intended to claim the right of religious expression.
"As an 'homage' to Satan, the purpose of the monument is to complement and contrast the Ten Commandments monument that already resides on the North side of the building," the group said on its website.
The Ten Commandments refers to the Biblical text received by Moses outlining the moral code on which Judaism and Christianity are built, including "thou shalt not kill."
Paul Wesselhoft, a representative in the Oklahoma legislature, told Oklahoma broadcaster KFOR-TV that he did not think the monument to Satan would be approved by the Capitol's Preservation Committee.
"I think they're trying to get our goat and I'm not going to let them do that," he was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.
But he said the project would not be disqualified by the satanist angle as much as the fact that it has "no historical significance for the state of Oklahoma."
He said the Ten Commandments statue was justified because it was a set of laws, and "we are lawmakers."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma has already challenged the Ten Commandments statue because it implies that the government is endorsing religion. The US Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting "an establishment of religion."
But the ACLU of Oklahoma legal director Brady Henderson told the Los Angeles Times that it would not step up to help the satanists.
"Our position is we'd like to see the government get out of the religious monument business altogether," he said. "Our feeling is, more religious display doesn't solve the fundamental problem that the government is wading into the religious realm."