A six-foot-tall granite monument of the Ten Commandments that has sat outside the Oklahoma State Capitol for several years is on its way out.
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The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the two Bloomfield residents, argues the other monuments on display and the policy do not justify the Ten Commandments structure. On September 11, Oklahoma County District Judge Thomas Prince gave the state 30 days to remove the monument, according to the Associated Press.
The commission is expected to authorize the Office of Management and Enterprise Services to remove the monument from a landing on the north side of the building. As The Christian Science Monitor reported, early this summer Oklahoma’s Supreme Court ordered its removal citing that the monument indirectly benefits the Jewish and Christian faiths.
The deadline for it to be removed is the second week of October. Bloomfield is appealing a 2014 federal order to remove the monument on grounds it violates a constitutional ban on using public property to support specific religions.
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The Oklahoman newspaper reports that a state panel authorized the removal Tuesday of the monument, though it is unclear where it will go.
