This artist’s rendering provided by the Satanic Temple shows a proposed monument that the New York–based Satanic group wants to place at the Oklahoma state capitol.
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]