Oklahoma City – The Satanic Temple in New York City is working on a new monument that is being built to erect at the Oklahoma Statehouse. The statue of Baphomet will sit at 7 feet tall and feature the goat-headed daemon flanked on either side by two children.
“The monument has been designed to reflect the views of Satanists in Oklahoma City and beyond. The statue will serve as a beacon calling for compassion and empathy among all living creatures. The statue will also have a functional purpose as a chair where people of all ages may sit on the lap of Satan for inspiration and contemplation,” spokesman Lucien Greaves explained.
The Satanic church that applied for a permit to erect a monument to Satan next to the Ten Commandments monument at the Oklahoma state-capitol building has unveiled its proposed design.
The 7-ft.-tall (2.1 m) sculpture would feature Satan depicted in the form of Baphomet, a bearded, goat-headed, winged hominid with horns seated on a throne beneath a pentagram with two smiling children to either side.
The group responsible for the proposed monument, the New York–based Satanic Temple, applied to place a monument to Satan at the capitol building in Oklahoma City after the Oklahoma ACLU sued to have a Ten Commandments statue — erected in 2012 — removed on the grounds that its presence discriminated against other religions, the Associated Press reports.
In addition to representing the Satanic religion, the monument “will also have a functional purpose as a chair where people of all ages may sit on the lap of Satan for inspiration and contemplation,” said Satanic Temple spokesperson Lucien Greaves.
Besides the Satanic Temple, a number of other groups have made requests to erect monuments, including a Hindu group, an animal-rights group and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
The Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission subsequently issued a moratorium on new requests pending resolution of the ACLU lawsuit. (AP-Associated Press)
