Ten Commandments monument may be joined by monkey god and Satantic tribute at Oklahoma Capitol

A group of Satanists, a Hindu organization, and a Republican state senator are all individually petitioning to have monuments placed on the grounds of the Oklahoma Statehouse Capitol building.

This comes after a monument of the Ten Commandments was erected in 2012 by socially conservative Christians, who privately funded the project.

The American Civil Liberties Union in Oklahoma warned lawmakers before the Ten Commandants went up that by allowing one religious group to have its say at that location, others would follow, reports Reuters. A lawsuit has been filed seeking its removal.

Meanwhile, a bill authorizing a monument of the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution be placed on the Oklahoma Statehouse grounds was filed Friday by Republican State Senator Patrick Anderson.

The bill calls for the privately funded monument to be placed at the Capitol, and according to the Associated Press, Anderson says more than two dozen legislators already have signed on as co-authors.

Along with the bill, a Hindu organization from Nevada is applying to have a monkey god statue placed on the Statehouse grounds. Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, said in a statement that if the Oklahoma State Capitol was open to different monuments, "We would love to have a statue of Lord Hanuman, who was greatly revered and worshiped and known for incredible strength and was a perfect grammarian." 

And a New York based-Satanist group petitioned to earlier have its monument put up alongside the Ten Commandments. The organization, called The Satantic Temple, is crowd-funding its efforts to raise $20,000. It has so far raised almost $5,000. 

Lucien Greaves, spokesman for The Satantic Temple, told CBS News, "The two top designs we are working with are interactive to a certain point. One is more of an object of play for children and the other is more utilitarian."

On its crowd-funding page, the group says: "As an 'homage' to Satan, the purpose of the monument is to complement and contrast the Ten Commandments monument that already resides on the North side of the building."

Oklahoma Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon's spokesman Joe Griffin told Reuters the Capitol was not an appropriate place for monuments such as the one proposed by the Satanists.