OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A Ten Commandments monument is now in storage at a conservative think tank a few blocks away from the Oklahoma Capitol.
The granite marker was moved to the offices of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs overnight. The state is paying a contractor about $4,700 for the job.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court decided in June that the display violates a state constitutional prohibition on the use of public property to support “any sect, church, denomination or system of religion.”
Lawmakers authorized the privately-funded monument in 2009. It’s been a lightning rod for controversy since it was erected in 2012, prompting a lawsuit from a Baptist minister from Norman who complained it violated the state constitution.
The original monument was smashed last year when someone drove a car across the Capitol lawn and crashed into it. A new one was erected in January.
