The group originally wanted to erect a monument outside the Oklahoma Capitol Building, but the state’s Supreme Court ruled barring all religious monuments on the grounds. A Ten Commandments display there is now set to be removed.
“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 Lucien Greaves, aka Doug Mesner, said in an email to Metal Injection magazine. “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 they seek to install is an eight-and-a-half-foot tall, 1.5 ton bronze Baphomet statue that cost $100,000 to create, and depicts Satan as a goat-headed figure with wings, horns, a beard, with two small children gazing up at him. His lap also doubles as seating.
“Arkansas is looking rather appealing. There are plenty of areas in the United States crying out for a counter-balance to existing graven tributes to archaic Abrahamic barbarism,” Mesner added.
This statue may not have a permanent home yet, but the group intends to continue to use the statue as a means to force state governments into either respecting all religions, or promoting none.
"It was always our intention to take this wherever it was relevant, wherever it was necessary, and wherever that dialogue needed to take place," Mesner told Fox News, stating that his group is less about Satan worship and more about highlighting improper religious influence on governments.
The statue, which took a New York based sculptor over five months to cast, is set to be unveiled for public viewing for the first time on July 25 in Detroit.
