Government Removes '10 Commandments'

The Oklahoma State government in the United States has paid a contractor $4,700 to remove a granite monument of the Ten Commandments following a Supreme Court decision earlier this year. The US top court ordered the removal of the monument in June with the reason that the display violated a state constitutional prohibition on the use of public property to support "any sect, church, denomination or system of religion."

Workers remove the Ten Commandments monument from its base [AP]

The monument was removed from the Oklahoma Capitol grounds under the cover of darkness and has been transported to Oklahoma Council for public Affairs' offices, a private conservative think tank for storage. Explaining the motive for transporting the monument in the night, Enterprises Services spokesman, John Estus said: "We wanted it to be done as quickly and efficiently as possible, and doing it at night gave us the best opportunity to do that," Estus said. "The Highway Patrol was also very concerned that having it in the middle of the day could lead to having demonstrations of some kind," he added. The monument was authorized by a Republican-controlled legislature in 2009 and was erected in 2012 with private funding, back then it prompted a lawsuit from a Baptist Minister, Bruce Prescott, who argued that it violated the state constitution. In a recent interview, he expressed his satisfaction at the removal of the monument by the State government; "I'm not opposed to the Ten Commandments. The first sermon I ever preached was on the Ten Commandments. I'm just opposed to it being on public property," he stated. A disappointed former state rep who voted in favour of erecting the monument was among the few who watched the relocation of the structure, according to him; the development was a historical event, "Now we know we have to change the Constitution. It would be good to get rid of some of the Supreme Court justices, too," he concluded.