The Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled that a monument to the Ten Commandments must be removed from the state’s Capitol in Oklahoma City.
The state’s top court cited a clause in the Oklahoma Constitution that it says prohibits promotion of religion.
The 7-2 decision says the monument violates Article 2, Section 5, of the state’s governing document, which reads:
No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.
The court also rejected the concept that the Ten Commandments were historic in nature. In its decision, the court insisted that “the Ten Commandments are obviously religious in nature and are an integral part of the Jewish and Christian faiths.”
The latest ruling overturns a decision by a lower court penned by Oklahoma County District Judge Thomas Prince that maintained that the monument should stay put on the Capitol grounds.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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