Epigraph:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” First Amendment – U.S. Constitution
Oklahoma Supreme Court
Source: Huffington Post
OKLAHOMA CITY, June 30 (Reuters) – The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a Ten Commandments monument placed on State Capitol grounds must be removed because the Oklahoma Constitution bans the use of state property for the benefit of a religion.
The 6-foot-tall (1.8-meter) stone monument, paid for with private money and supported by lawmakers in the socially conservative state, was installed in 2012, prompting complaints that it violated the U.S. Constitution’s provisions against government establishment of religion, as well as local laws.
Ten Commandments Monument
In a 7-2 decision, the court said the placement of the monument violated a section in the state’s constitution, which says no public money or property can be used either directly or indirectly for the “benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion.”
Lawmakers have argued that the monument was not serving a religious purpose but was meant to mark a historical event.
For the Muslim Times’ Encyclopedic collection on Separation of Mosque-Church and State, click here.
This opened the door for other groups, including Satanists and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, to apply for permission to erect their own monuments on Capitol grounds to mark what they say are historical events.
In March, a U.S. judge dismissed a case filed by an atheist group that was seeking to remove the monument from State Capitol grounds, saying the plaintiffs failed to show standing to bring the suit. (Reporting by Heide Brandes; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Bill Trott)
Categories: Americas, Secularism, Separation of Church and State
Another great victory for the constitution and secularism. Now I will quote another article on this topic:
Oklahoma Supreme Court Decides Ten Commandments Monument Must Be Removed
By Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, Tue, June 30, 2015
Oklahoma’s Supreme Court has ordered that the six-foot-tall statue of the Ten Commandments on State Capitol grounds must be removed.
The statue, which was privately funded by Republican legislator Rep. Mike Ritze and installed in 2012, must be removed because the state’s constitution bans the use of state property to benefit religion, The Huffington Post reported.
On those conditions, the court ruled 7-2 that the statue must be removed, although some lawmakers argued that the monument was meant to mark a historical event.
“Quite simply, the Oklahoma Supreme Court got it wrong,” Attorney General Scott Pruitt said in a statement.”The court completely ignored the profound historical impact of the Ten Commandments on the foundation of Western law.” He went on to call for a change to the state’s constitution and suggest that the Justices be impeached, the Associated Press reported.
“I think the idea that you go about amending the constitution every time you lose a court battle is a dangerous precedent for anyone to engage in, but in particular for the state’s highest attorney to do so,” said Ryan Kiesel, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, which represented the plaintiffs in the case. “And the calls for impeachment represent a fundamental misunderstanding of how an independent judiciary functions within our system of democratic government.”
Though the case dealt with separation of church and state, some religious groups, both serious serious and satirical, decided to make a point about the issue by proposing their own monuments. One group requested a 7-foot-tall statue that depicts Satan as Baphomet, a figure with a goat head, horns, wings and a beard. Requests were also submitted by a Hindu leader in Nevada, an animal rights group, and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
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