OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma judge gave the state 30 days to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state capitol grounds in a lawsuit filed by a Baptist minister. At press time there were about 10 days left and the monument had not yet been removed.
Bruce Prescott, an ordained Baptist minister and former executive director of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists, sued the state in 2013, seeking the removal of a 6-foot-tall stone monument authorized by state lawmakers in 2009. Prescott and others argued that the monument’s location violated the Oklahoma Constitution’s ban against using public property to support “any sect, church, denomination or system of religion.”
The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled June 30 that the monument, paid for with private funds, did violate a prohibition in the state’s constitution. Attorney General Scott Pruitt next asked Oklahoma County Judge Thomas Prince to consider if the state Supreme Court ruling “creates hostility toward religion that violates the U.S. Constitution.” Prince said during a Sept. 11 hearing that he has a duty to follow the Supreme Court order.
The state court refused to apply a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the placement of a similar monument on the Texas Capitol grounds, finding the issue lies with the Oklahoma constitution rather than the federal Bill of Rights.
(BNG)
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