About a month ago, the Satanic Temple made nationwide headlines when they said they wanted to donate a monument to be placed in outside the Oklahoma State Capitol building, where a Ten Commandments monument already stood:

That was soon followed by a request from a Hindu group that wanted to erect a monument of Lord Hanuman.

I’m sure more monument requests would have followed, but the Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission voted unanimously on December 19 to declare a moratorium on monuments:

Chair Trait Thompson, who also serves as senior policy advisory to Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, made the motion proposing the ban. “Earlier the (American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma) brought a lawsuit against the Capitol Preservation Commission regarding the placement of the Ten Commandments monument on the north grounds of the State Capitol. Since that time, the CPC has received numerous requests from individuals and groups seeking to place additional monuments on the grounds. “At this time, I believe action by the CPC on any of these requests would be premature given that the lawsuit has yet to be decided,” he added.

Or, as I summarized back then, they didn’t want to say yes or no to any of the other monuments because they were still dealing with a lawsuit from the first one.

Today, the Satanic Temple that began the whole kerfuffle revealed the design for the monument they hope gets placed outside the Capitol building once all the lawsuit dust has settled:

In the application [for the monument], Satanic Temple spokesperson, Lucien Greaves, explains: “The monument has been designed to reflect the views of Satanists in Oklahoma City and beyond. The statue will serve as a beacon calling for compassion and empathy among all living creatures. 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.” The proposed monument features a 7 foot tall goat-headed Baphomet that sits cross-legged flanked by a smiling child on both sides. The lap will serve as a seat for visitors. Inscribed on the front of the statue above an inverted pentagram will be one of the Satanic Temple’s fundamental tenets that proclaims: “The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.” The back of the stone slab will display a passage from Lord Byron’s dramatic work, Cain that reads: Then who was the Demon? He

Who would not let ye live, or he who would

Have made ye live forever, in the joy

And power of Knowledge? Another quote from William Blake states: “Prisons are built with stones of Law, Brothels with bricks of Religion.”

I love it. It advocates for compassion and justice. It’s inviting to children who can sit on Baphomet’s lap. And it’ll frighten the hell out of Christian conservatives. (If you’re unfamiliar with Baphomet, feel free to read this Chick tract.)

Oklahoma politicians have a very easy decision to make here: They can allow the Satanic Temple’s monument to sit alongside the Ten Commandments one — along with any monuments donated by Hindu groups and atheist groups and Scientologists, etc. — or they can remove the Ten Commandments monument and maintain a level playing field for people of all religious beliefs.

It’s an easy decision, but right now, the politicians are pretending like it’s not.

By the way, the Temple is still taking donations for the building of said monument.

Get your popcorn ready.

(via Raw Story)

[Note: This story was posted earlier today but was deleted for reasons I can’t figure out. Sorry for any confusion and apologies to those who left comments on the old post!]



