Monuments to God and gods

In 2009, an Oklahoma lawmaker proposed a Ten Commandments monument to be displayed on the state’s Capitol grounds in Oklahoma City and paid for it himself. Naturally, the ACLU (and a Christ-professing liberal) sued, claiming the monument was unconstitutional, but a federal judge ruled the display does not violate the U.S. Constitution.

The religious monument serves a historical purpose, the court reasoned, and not just a religious one. The ruling is similar to the Ground Zero cross case. Challengers claimed the cross on government property was an impermissible religious promotion, but a federal appellate court noted that the U.S. Supreme Court “has long recognized that an accurate account of human history frequently requires reference to religion.”

Another court found that a Ten Commandments display on government grounds in North Dakota was permissible, because it serves as a historical display. This country’s history of Christian symbols is a strong basis for upholding such displays and a benefit we have over other religious groups.

But the First Amendment applies to other religions, too.

In a column I wrote last year about the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial cross in La Jolla, Calif., I asked how we should respond if Muslims wanted to erect a crescent on government property. If we can appeal to the First Amendment, so can Muslims, Mormons, Hindus, etc. I wrote that instead of petitioning to remove the crescent, I’d insist that a Christian symbol also be displayed. A symbol of the one true God might have a more powerful effect if displayed alongside symbols of false gods.

In what’s meant to be a “Gotcha!” to Christians, a group of Satanists proposed to erect their own privately funded monument on Oklahoma’s Capitol grounds. The display features Baphomet, a goat-headed occult symbol, and two children gazing up at it. While I suspect it’s a stunt to mock Christians, that doesn’t make it any less worthy of discussion. Should Christians try to keep monuments to unbelief, or even evil, off government property, or is it an all-or-nothing proposition?

We have Truth on our side. Satan is a defeated foe, but God has allowed him to be the god of this age, the ruler of this world, and the prince of the power of the air. The Baphomet symbol should be no more alarming to us than the mainstream acceptance and celebration of homosexual behavior or the slaughter of precious unborn babies. We must contend with sin, including our own, every day. So why does God allow Satan to roam the world? We might as well ask why God allows anything. It’s all to His glory.

I’d like to think some of those “satanic” mockers are “predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son,” as the apostle Paul wrote. While playing the gadfly to God’s people now, the predestined ones will become convicted of their sins, and God, who’ll begin a good work in them, “will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”