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Oklahoma Supreme Court: Ten Commandments Monument Must Be Removed

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K

KingGondo

Banned
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A Ten Commandments monument on the Oklahoma Capitol grounds is a religious symbol and must be removed because it violates the state's constitutional ban on using public property to benefit a religion, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.

Oklahoma's highest court said the Ten Commandments chiseled into the 6-foot-tall granite monument, which was privately funded by a Republican legislator, are "obviously religious in nature and are an integral part of the Jewish and Christian faiths."

The 7-2 ruling overturns a decision by a district court judge who determined the monument could stay.

Attorney General Scott Pruitt had argued that the monument was historical in nature and nearly identical to a Texas monument that was found constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Oklahoma justices said the local monument violated the state's constitution, not the U.S. Constitution.

"Quite simply, the Oklahoma Supreme Court got it wrong," Pruitt said in a statement. "The court completely ignored the profound historical impact of the Ten Commandments on the foundation of Western law."

Pruitt said his office would ask the court for a rehearing and request that the monument be allowed to stay until the court considers his request.

Since the original monument was erected in 2012, several other groups have asked to put up their own monuments on the Capitol grounds. Among them is a group that wants to erect a 7-foot-tall statue that depicts Satan as Baphomet, a goat-headed figure with horns, wings and a long beard.

A Hindu leader in Nevada, an animal rights group, and the satirical Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster also have made requests.

Rep. Mike Ritze, a Republican from Broken Arrow whose family paid about $10,000 for the monument's construction, pushed the bill authorizing the monument. He said Tuesday he hoped the attorney general would appeal the ruling.

The original monument was smashed into pieces in October, when someone drove a car across the Capitol lawn and crashed into it. A 29-year-old man who was arrested the next day was admitted to a hospital for mental health treatment, and formal charges were never filed.

A new monument was built and put up again in January.
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Those activist judges are at it again!
 
S

SocksAndShoes

Banned
Good. Had no business being there in the first place.

Since the original monument was erected in 2012, several other groups have asked to put up their own monuments on the Capitol grounds. Among them is a group that wants to erect a 7-foot-tall statue that depicts Satan as Baphomet, a goat-headed figure with horns, wings and a long beard.
Click to expand...

That would have been incredible though.
 
E

ErasureAcer

Banned
Duh. Unless you're opening up the grounds to the Pastafarians as well...and every other religion, belief and creed. Get that shit out of there.
 
P

Pillville

Member
ErasureAcer said:
Duh. Unless you're opening up the grounds to the Pastafarians as well...and every other religion, belief and creed. Get that shit out of there.
Click to expand...

But I was looking forward to the Satanic statue that someone asked to be added too.
622x350.jpg


This was real, by the way.

Beaten by seconds (and I guess it's Baphomet)
 
S

Souldestroyer Reborn

Banned
SocksAndShoes said:
If even if you don't know him, he knows you.

May the Flying Spaghetti Monster watch over us all.
Click to expand...

EskimoJoe said:
Don't worry. They mean "real, legitimate church." The FSM is real. Fuck the nonbelievers.

^RAmen, brother.
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Hahaha! that's the first time i've ever heard about this. Didn't even know it was a thing >.<

There's actually a website and everything >.>

This is golden:

With millions, if not thousands, of devout worshippers, the Church of the FSM is widely considered a legitimate religion, even by its opponents &#8211; mostly fundamentalist Christians, who have accepted that our God has larger balls than theirs.
Click to expand...
 
K

King Of Fuh

Member
"Quite simply, the Oklahoma Supreme Court got it wrong," Pruitt said in a statement. "The court completely ignored the profound historical impact of the Ten Commandments on the foundation of Western law."
Click to expand...

I am so sick of this argument. Why not put the code of Hammurabi up on the lawn? At least its laws are still generally against the law. Of the ten commandments, only TWO are definitively against the law in the US (Shalt not kill, shalt not steal), with a third (shalt not bear false witness) only the law when under oath (eg: perjury). The rest are completely irrelevant to the justice system. I don't know how anybody with half a brain could think this symbol was non-religious and a foundation of western law.
 
-COOLIO-

-COOLIO-

The Everyman
a lot of good news recently, but im worried about all of this rapid progress resulting in some people violently lashing out.

but at any rate, here's to progress!
 
P

Pillville

Member
-COOLIO- said:
a lot of good news recently, but im worried about all of this rapid progress resulting in some people violently lashing out.

but at any rate, here's to progress!
Click to expand...

me too. I'd almost want to get my tinfoil hat on and say conservative politicians making this happen to get their base fired up for the 2016 elections.
 
M

mcarlie

Banned
I don't get this. The laws aren't being incorporated into the legal system by having a monument. What's the difference between this and having a monument to the Code of Hammurabi or any other famous set of laws?
 
K

KHarvey16

Member
mcarlie said:
I don't get this. The laws aren't being incorporated into the legal system by having a monument. What's the difference between this and having a monument to the Code of Hammurabi or any other famous set of laws?
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They aren't specific to a religion?
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Cap'n Cook said:
I'm an atheist and I don't care either way, some of them are good rules to live by.
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And some of them are absolute gobbledygook:

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make idols.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. No matter how much he cries, no matter how much he begs, never, never feed your gremlin after midnight.
 
Pilgrimzero

Pilgrimzero

Member
I literally just had this conversation on FB:


Cousin: I can't believe Oklahoma has folded on this. It's not right. God is basically being removed a little at a time.

Me: It endorses a religion which the state Gov can't legally do.

Cousin: So you are saying you agree with this?

Me: Doesn't matter what i agree with. The law is the law. There is a reason we are a Democracy and not a Theocracy. Our Founding Fathers knew this.

Cousin: It absolutely DOES matter if your agree or not. There is a very small percentage of the public that made this happen. It happened because too many people are afraid to stand up and say something because we have all been turned into sheep and convinced that anything said will be deemed as offensive, racists, bigotry, etc.

Me: How did this small percentage effect THE LAW? This went to the courts, the LEGAL COURTS, who used thier knowledge of THE LAW to say that this is not LEGAL. So are you saying that even if it's illegal as deemed by the PEOPLE who created and voted on these laws (keeping in mind the seperation of church and state) that it should stay there? Would you be just as adamant if it was buddist statue? Or a satanic one? Should the law be changed because it's YOUR religion? Do you understand how that's biased and the reason that law even exists?

Cousin: Pilgrim.....do you believe in God?

Me: Dude, really? If you think this is an attack on religion then there is no need to continue this.

Cousin: You're right. No need to continue. (But I will say a prayer for you).
 
E

ElectricKaibutsu

Member
King Of Fuh said:
I am so sick of this argument. Why not put the code of Hammurabi up on the lawn? At least its laws are still generally against the law. Of the ten commandments, only TWO are definitively against the law in the US (Shalt not kill, shalt not steal), with a third (shalt not bear false witness) only the law when under oath (eg: perjury). The rest are completely irrelevant to the justice system. I don't know how anybody with half a brain could think this symbol was non-religious and a foundation of western law.
Click to expand...

Ironically the state uses the death penalty and civil forfeiture...
 
A

Admiral Woofington

Member
Pilgrimzero said:
I literally just had this conversation on FB:


Cousin: I can't believe Oklahoma has folded on this. It's not right. God is basically being removed a little at a time.

Me: It endorses a religion which the state Gov can't legally do.

Cousin: So you are saying you agree with this?

Me: Doesn't matter what i agree with. The law is the law. There is a reason we are a Democracy and not a Theocracy. Our Founding Fathers knew this.

Cousin: It absolutely DOES matter if your agree or not. There is a very small percentage of the public that made this happen. It happened because too many people are afraid to stand up and say something because we have all been turned into sheep and convinced that anything said will be deemed as offensive, racists, bigotry, etc.

Me: How did this small percentage effect THE LAW? This went to the courts, the LEGAL COURTS, who used thier knowledge of THE LAW to say that this is not LEGAL. So are you saying that even if it's illegal as deemed by the PEOPLE who created and voted on it

Cousin: Pilgrim.....do you believe in God?

Me: Dude, really? If you think this is an attack on religion then there is no need to continue this.

Cousin: You're right. No need to continue. (But I will say a prayer for you).
Click to expand...

He turned the other debating cheek and went for the attack lol.
 
G

Gordon Shumway

Banned
Hmmmm..perhaps I will go ahead and buy a gun. The "culture war" might become an actual thing around these parts..shit, all over the damn country..
 
K

KHarvey16

Member
mcarlie said:
I'm not familiar with Oklahoma's specific laws but this doesn't seem like "an establishment of religion", it seems more like it's for aesthetic purposes.
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It's promoting a religion and additionally has no secular purpose. It's very obviously a violation. I mean, how can you justify an installation declaring "thou shalt have no other gods before me" on public land?
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
KHarvey16 said:
It's promoting a religion and additionally has no secular purpose. It's very obviously a violation. I mean, how can you justify an installation declaring "thou shalt have no other gods before me" on public land?
Click to expand...
When you really break that one down, it is straight up saying non-Christian faiths not welcome here.
 
obin_gam

obin_gam

Member
BocoDragon said:
And some of them are absolute gobbledygook:

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make idols.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. No matter how much he cries, no matter how much he begs, never, never feed your gremlin after midnight.
Click to expand...

Wait, AFTER?!
Uhm... I'll be right back
 
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