Satanic Temple in Search of New Home for Baphomet Statue After Oklahoma Supreme Court Orders Removal of Ten Commandments From Capitol Grounds
The Satanic Temple is searching for a new home for its 9 foot Baphomet monument that was originally crafted to stand alongside a Ten Commandments statue on Oklahoma's capitol grounds after both were barred from the area by a state Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday.
The 9 foot Baphoment monument weighs around a ton and was described as a "sculptural masterpiece" by the satanic group that originally aimed to place it next to the Ten Commandments monument to "promote a pluralistic society."
The state's Supreme Court ruled that public property could not be used to promote any religion, which resulted in the removal of the biblical statue and the barring of the Baphoment monument.
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"The entire point of our effort was to offer a monument that would complement and contrast the 10 Commandments, reaffirming that we live in a nation that respects plurality, a nation that refuses to allow a single viewpoint to co-opt the power and authority of government institutions," Satanic Temple spokesman Doug Mesner (a.k.a. Lucien Greaves), told The Washington Post in an email. "Given the Court's ruling, TST no longer has any interest in pursuing placement of the Baphomet monument on Oklahoma's Capitol grounds."
The monument was first proposed by the Satanic group in 2013, one year after a Ten Commandments statue was erected on the capitol grounds after being approved by Oklahoma state legislature.
Mesner of New York's Satanic Temple previously told The Christian Post that the organization wanted to include children in its satanic sculpture because they are "very concerned for children's rights and child welfare."
The Satanic Temple will debut the Baphomet monument at an unveiling party in Michigan later this month. The party will happen even if the group has not found a home for the statue.
"The unveiling, we feel, should now also be a celebration of victory in Oklahoma," said Mesner.
Mesner suggested that the statue might find its new home in Arkansas where a privately-funded monument of the Ten Commandments was recently approved for the state's capitol grounds.
"There are plenty of areas in the United States crying out for a counter-balance to existing graven tributes to archaic Abrahamic barbarism," said Mesner.
The Satanic Temple has been attempting to erect signs and monuments next to Judeo-Christian symbols on state property in different parts of the country.
At the end of 2014, the Satanic Temple proposed displays for the Franklin County Courthouse in Indiana that would be placed near a nativity display. The group's proposal was rejected by the courthouse.
The Satanic Temple, along with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, launched a lawsuit against the courthouse in retaliation.
Similarly, the Temple's Seattle chapter launched a campaign in March against a proposed sign for the Clark County public hearing room in Vancouver, Washington, that read "In God We Trust." At the time, the group said its goal was to separate church and state, and argued that it uses Satan as a symbol to "rebel against tyranny."
"We see Satan as our symbol of the rebel against tyranny," said Satanic Temple's Lillith Starr to KING 5 News in March.
