Ten Commandments Monument Taken Down From Oklahoma State Capitol Following Court Order: Upholding The Law-Not Persecuting Christians

This is what the law should look like when allowed to take its course; equal protection for all, special rights for no one.

Especially in relation to the separation of church/state, the one piece of the US constitution Christians struggle so hard to understand; the one part of the law when enforced leads to cries of Christian persecution.

I’ll get to why that position is bollocks in a moment. On Monday night, workers took down a 4,800-pound monument of the Ten Commandments from the Oklahoma state Capitol grounds.

The monument was installed in 2012; paid for with private funds, and its placement was approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2009.

The single slab of granite stands 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide and is engraved with the Ten Commandments given to Moses in the Old Testament, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The removal itself took place in the dead of night, to forestall possible demonstrations from distressed Christian groups. It’s placement on state grounds has been the subject of intense debate, with protests coming in from all sorts of civil liberties union; including The Satanic Temple and the satirical Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

They called for the chance to place their monuments there if the exception was being made for Christianity.

After a long court battle, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled the placement of the monument as violating the constitution. State Officials shuffled their feet on getting it removed, but District Judge Thomas Prince gave them until October 12 to take down the 6-foot-tall granite monument.

 

Looks like they beat the deadline by a full week.

As usual, this totally constitutional action has fed into the persecution complex of America’s fanatical religious right. From Kim Davis going to jail and now the removal of this monument, the rhetoric is that Christianity is under attack and Christians are being persecuted for their sincerely held beliefs.

Even leaving aside the fact that the US has always been, is, and would continue to be for a long time a Christian majority country, and that Republicans continue to attempt to run the state based on Christian law; the establishment clause is a thing, and upholding it is no more persecution than a Lion hunting its lunch is committing murder. It’s the only way.

The state is supposed to be for everyone, irrespective of your beliefs and principles. And the state is supposed to be neutral in matters of religion; it would not stop people from practicing their beliefs, but it would also not support any one over the other.

So a Ten Commandment monument, on state capitol grounds, is a big no-no. That’s a state endorsement for Christianity, a mark of favourable treatment for Christians. A Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, or even atheist constituent going there for business could see the monument and feel they would not receive fair treatment in there simply based on their belief, or the lack of it.

There is no law prohibiting putting this monument on your private property. Hell, if you can swing it you can install a building sized ten commandment monument; but on government premises you simply cannot. It’s not that difficult to grasp.

So no, Christianity is not being persecuted. The state either supports no one or it supports everyone, there can be no middle ground. So if the monument has to stay up, Christians should be prepared to see a statue of Baphomet right alongside it. But they fight that too, denying to others the exception they have been granted themselves.

So taking down the momument is Christian persecution; insofar as being fair, even-handed, and just can be called persecution.