American Clash Over Religious Symbols

A Ten Commandments monument that resides outside Oklahoma’s statehouse has unleashed hell. Now, various groups including Satanists, Hindus, animal lovers and followers of Flying Spaghetti Monster want to place their statues at the site, too.

Tablets of Testimony were placed on the capitol grounds last year, three years after the Republican-controlled legislature authorized the monument in 2009. From the very beginning, there were protests that the display is incompatible with the U.S. Constitution, which— as is commonly believed—guarantees separation of church and state.

The Dispute That Turned Into a Farce

Interestingly, the phrase “separation of church and state” does not actually appear anywhere in the Constitution. Only the First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” But the word “God” is not mentioned in the Constitution at all either; it occurs only in the Declaration of Independence of 1776, which has nothing to do with the Constitution and is not a source of law. Since the most important American document passes over God in silence, then it means, argue supporters of strict separation, that America’s founding fathers wanted the country to be completely secular.

Disputes on the subject are almost as old as the United States, but their last Oklahoma City outing is a novelty, since it turned into a farce.

The six-foot-tall tablets were originated and privately funded by the Republican state representative Mike Ritze. According to their proponents, they are not a religious symbol, but a historical monument. The House bill authorizing the placement of the monument in 2009 stated that “the Ten Commandments are an important component of the moral foundation of the laws and legal system of the United States of America and of the State of Oklahoma.”

Soon after the monument was erected in front of the state capitol, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit seeking its removal. It argues that by granting approval to the statue, which grows out of the Judeo-Christian tradition, the state authorities declare de facto that all other religions are inferior or less important.

A settlement has not been reached yet, but followers of other religions, as well as jokers impersonating them, decided to test the equality of all religions in America, and Oklahoma in particular.

Satanists Want a Monument to the Devil

In early December, Satanists in New York announced that they want to put a Satanic monument at the Oklahoma capitol, just next to the Tablets of Testimony. “We believe that all monuments should be in good taste and consistent with community standards,” wrote Lucien Greaves, a spokesman for the temple. “Our proposed monument, as an homage to the historic/literary Satan, will certainly abide by these guidelines.” Details of the project are not yet known, but the Satanists promise it will be “an object of play for young children.” It will cost $20,000, almost half of which has already been collected on the Internet.

The New York Temple of Satan stated that “by accepting our offer, the good people of Oklahoma City will have the opportunity to show that they espouse the basic freedoms spelled out in the Constitution.”

The Satanists’ initiative was spotted by civil rights activists. “We would prefer to see Oklahoma’s government officials work to faithfully serve our communities and improve the lives of Oklahomans instead of erecting granite monuments to show us all how righteous they are,” said Brady Henderson, the head of the local branch of the ACLU in Oklahoma. “But if the Ten Commandments, with its overtly Christian message, is allowed to stay at the capitol, the Satanic Temple’s proposed monument cannot be rejected because of its different religious viewpoint.”

A week after the Satanists, Hindus entered. They want to set up a monument to one of the most important Hindu deities, the monkey god symbolizing wisdom, Lord Hanuman. The Universal Society of Hinduism announced it would officially apply for permission to erect a statue.

Hinduism is the world’s third largest faith in terms of the number of followers, after Christianity and Islam. “[B]esides honoring the Hindus living in Oklahoma, this statue would raise awareness of Oklahomans about Hinduism … and a rich philosophical thought,” says the society.

Oklahoma Republicans, who openly called the Satanist monument offensive, were far less inclined to speak directly about a Hindu monument. Representative Earl Sears said only that “we have a system in place to process these requests … we’ll just let the system work.”

After the Hindu group, an animal welfare group jumped into the discussion. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals also wants a display at the capitol building.

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster Could Not Stay Out

The last group that announced plans to build a monument in front of the state capitol in Oklahoma is the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Their application was the last wake-up call—the Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission voted on Dec. 19, 2013 to approve the temporary ban on new monuments on the statehouse grounds, at least until a court dispute over the current Ten Commandments monument is settled.

It would be an exaggeration to say that the increasingly foolish dispute over Oklahoma monuments has divided America. At least for now, until the issue goes to the Supreme Court, it retains a local character.

During the holiday season, a lot more publicity was attracted by Megyn Kelly, an anchor of the extremely conservative Fox News channel. In her program she stated emphatically that whether someone likes it or not “[f]or all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white,” in a debate over a question posed by a black columnist who did not like that St. Nicholas is always portrayed as an older white male.

Kelly’s statement became fodder for comedians, who were astonished at the enormous emotional commitment she demonstrated in the defense of—after all—an imaginary character.