The governor of Oklahoma is vowing to raise funds to repair a Ten Commandments monument near the state capitol building in Oklahoma City that a Satanist destroyed with his car Thursday night.
At around 7 p.m. the unnamed culprit cleared a path in front of the monument and rammed his car into it, breaking the stone into several pieces.
The man abandoned his vehicle and was taken into custody on Friday after he came to the attention of the Secret Service after making threats against the president, Oklahoma City’s News 9 reports.
He also told authorities that he is bipolar and a Satanist, and that voices inside of his head told him to urinate on the structure and “smash it.”
The monument has been a source of controversy since it was placed in front of the Capitol in 2012. A number of groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have filed suit, claiming that it violates that state’s Constitution.
One New York-based group has has gone so far in their protest that they have proposed erecting a 7-foot-tall statue of Satan to place in front of the capitol building.
Following the destruction of the monument, Gov. Mary Fallon said she would personally help raise funds to build a new stone tablet.
Mike Ritze, the state senator who spent nearly $10,000 of his own money to financed the building of the six-foot structure, also promised that it would be rebuilt.
“We are not going to be bullied; the monument will be repaired and replaced,” Ritze said in a statement, according to News 9.
Thursday’s hit-and-run occurred on the same day that the state chapter of the ACLU filed an appeal to a recent state Supreme Court ruling that dismissed the organization’s suit against the placement of the monument.
But Ryan Kiesel, the executive director of ACLU Oklahoma, issued a statement condemning the destruction.
“The ACLU of Oklahoma and our clients are outraged at this apparent act of vandalism,” Kiesel said in a statement. “While we have and continue to seek the removal of the Ten Commandments monument from the Capitol grounds through the judicial process, the Ten Commandments constitute a strong foundation in our clients’ deeply held religious beliefs. To see the Ten Commandments desecrated by vandals is highly offensive to them as people of faith.”
