A Ten Commandments monument would be erected on the Capitol grounds under a bill the Senate passed Monday.

House Bill 1330 passed 37-9 after nearly 25 minutes of debate. The bill has already passed the House and heads to a conference committee for revisions.

Sen. Randy Brogdon, R-Owasso, said the Ten Commandments had historic significance and a monument would not violate provisions that require the separation of church and state. If the bill becomes law, a private group will pay for the monument, Brogdon said.

"They (commandments) are the foundation of our nation’s law,” Brogdon said. "It’s a historical document. It’s like the Liberty Bell.”

Sen. Judy Eason McIntyre, D-Tulsa, was among the Democrats who objected to the bill, characterizing it as a divisive issue that does nothing to address the problems the state faces.

"This is a political ploy to get you elected as governor or to try and get you elected as governor,” Eason McIntyre said to Brogdon during debate, and accused members of the Republican Party of trying to continue to rally support for "wedge” issues.

"If it’s not God, if it’s not gays, if it’s not guns, they don’t care,” she said.

Opponents of the bill argued the monument would violate a provision of Oklahoma’s constitution barring the use of public money or property to be used to further a religious belief.

Brogdon, who announced over the weekend his intentions to run for governor, pointed out the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld the existence of a similar monument near the capitol in Austin, Texas.

Sen. Tom Adelson, D-Tulsa, who is Jewish, said the commandments are held in high regard in the Jewish faith and should be considered a holy symbol.

"It is hard for me as a Jewish person to hear that we are turning it (the Ten Commandments) into a secular symbol,” Adelson said. "It’s clearly religious, and I would not have it referred to in any other way.”