Satanic monument disallowed next to Ten Commandments — and Satanic Temple pulls out the pitchforks

Nearly a year after a driver plowed into and destroyed a brand-new Ten Commandments monument at the Arkansas Capitol Grounds in Little Rock, a replacement monument marking the momentous biblical event finally has been installed.

Image source: KOLR-TV reported

But it seems the local chapter of the Satanic Temple is all burned up about it.

See, the organization believes it's a victim of discrimination because state officials won't install a satanic monument next to the new Ten Commandments monument, KOLR-TV reported.

What did a Satanist have to say?

"I don't need a book to tell me how to live my life or people," Satanist Chris Russell told the station.

Image source: KOLR-TV video screenshot

He added to KOLR: "Satanism represents free thought, individualism. Basically, you are your own God. I've never subscribed to the Christian religion. It's never resonated with me."

Image source: KOLR-TV video screenshot

What did a Christian couple have to say?

"I'll pray for them," Lanelle Tippit told the station, presumably regarding the Satanists' stance.

"Thou shalt have no other God before you," she added to KOLR, quoting the first of the commandments.

"That's right," Doug Tippit told the station. "That's it."

Image source: KOLR-TV video screenshot

"If you do that then everything else will fall in place," Lanelle Tippit concluded to KOLR.

What did a state official have to say?

Republican state Sen. Jason Rapert told the station that private donations made it possible to erect a new Ten Commandments monument.

"The sole reason that we donated this monument to the state of Arkansas is because the Ten Commandments are an important component to the foundation of the laws and the legal system of the United States of America and of the state of Arkansas," he added, according to the Arkansas Times.

What's next?

The ACLU of Arkansas and the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers both intend to sue over the Ten Commandments monument, the paper said, which added that the Satanic Temple will file as an intervenor to any lawsuits.

Satanic Temple spokesperson and co-founder Lucien Greaves told the Times that the monument doesn't have a chance in you-know-where of sticking around.

Image source: KOLR-TV video screenshot

"I honestly don’t think the Ten Commandments monument has a shot at staying here legally," he told the paper.

Greaves pointed out the First Amendment of the Constitution as well as the Arkansas Constitution, which states "no preference shall ever be given, by law, to any religious establishment, denomination or mode of worship, above any other," the Times reported.