An Oklahoma state commission that manages the placement of artwork on public property has voted to remove a controversial Ten Commandments display from capitol grounds.
The Capitol Preservation Commission voted 7-1 on Tuesday to grant the Office of Management and Enterprise Services permission to remove the structure, which was funded in 2012 with private dollars, Reuters reported.
The decision to ax the monument from public grounds follows months of fierce debate, with complaints over its presence on public property being centered on a provision in the Oklahoma state constitution that precludes one religion being heralded over another.
A Ten Commandments monument erected outside the Oklahoma state Capitol is shown on Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. (Credit: Sean Murphy/AP)
Critics took to the courts back in June and were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union; a judge ruled that the Ten Commandments display must come down, though proponents have argued that the display is not exclusively religious in nature.
A court affirmed this sentiment in a ruling earlier this month, asking that the monument be taken down by October 12, according to Reuters.
As TheBlaze previously reported, the case heated up when the Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned previous decisions in a 7-2 ruling on June 30, saying that the Ten Commandments display exclusively promotes the Jewish and Christian faiths and is “obviously religious in nature.”
Republican Gov. Mary Fallin issued a statement earlier this summer after the initial Oklahoma Supreme Court decision, defending the monument and decrying a court decision mandating its removal as “deeply disturbing.”
“Last week the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Oklahoma’s Ten Commandments monument was impermissible,” she said. “Their decision was deeply disturbing to many in our legislature, many in the general public, and to me.”
It is unclear how Fallin and other politicians will react over the latest decision to remove the display — one that is expected to unfold in the coming weeks.
Rather than a religious symbol that serves as a taxpayer-funded endorsement of the Judeo-Christian faith, Fallin has said that the moment was constructed and maintained with private dollars to “recognize and honor the historical significance of the Commandments in our state’s and nation’s systems of laws.”
The legislature was exploring examining the state’s constitution earlier this summer to see if changes can be made to permit the Ten Commandments display.
Now everyone is upset over these developments, though.
“Obviously we’re pleased with the decision. The whole case is controversial, but something that is undeniable is that the court is getting this right,” Brady Henderson, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Oklahoma office, told the Oklahoman earlier thus summer. “The court is following the law.”
Ritze, who is also a doctor, said in the wake of the ruling that he and his wife decided 30 years ago to home-school their children, feeling at the time that public schools were “not teaching the basics and [were] erasing our history and heritage.”
Image credit: ShutterStock.com
Years later, he said that he and his family wanted to ensure that others learned the origins of American heritage as well.
“I felt like we needed to have a monument there to show current and future generations where a lot of our laws derive from,” he said. “That’s how the monument evolved.”
But Ritze said that he never intended for the symbol to be seen as religious, instead calling it a historical necessity that provides context for all citizens regarding the emergence and crafting of American law.
“I like history and I look at history and what we were teaching our children … we wanted to link them to as much as the original history — different facts that are being erased in our history,” he said. “In no way, shape or form did we want the monument to be a religious symbol. This is historical heritage of our birth as a nation and birth as a state.”
The Ten Commandments monument has been a point of contention since 2012, when Ritze’s family paid $10,000 to privately fund it. Two years later, a man reportedly crashed his car into the display, claiming that the devil made him do it; Ritze again paid to repair the structure.
Read more about the controversy here.
(H/T: Reuters)
