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Oklahoma Ten Commandments Case: Links and Timeline

Here are some resources to facilitate Satansplain episodes #128 and #129, including a list of relevant links and a timeline of the mentioned events.

Relevant Links:

Timeline:

  • 2009 – An Oklahoma state representative, Mike Ritze, fronts the money to build a Ten Commandments monument
  • 2012 – The Ten Commandments monument is erected at the Oklahoma State Capitol
  • August 19, 2013 – Some Christians want the Ten Commandments monument removed, for religious reasons. With the help of the ACLU, “Prescott v. Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission – Petition for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief” is filed
  • December 11, 2013 – After “a glitch”, the Satanic Temple’s fundraiser on IndieGogo is open.
  • December 31, 2013 – The Satanic Temple has a YouTube video about the fundraiser
  • January 7, 2014 – The Satanic Temple reaches its fundraising goal of $20k; final amount ended up being over $28k, from a total of 1,032 backers
  • January 13, 2014 – American Atheists has a draft of their own document, stating that they want the Ten Commandments statue taken down because they claim it violates the establishment clause
  • March, 18 2014 – Motion to dismiss American Atheists’ suit, as they didn’t make a clear enough case.
  • April 16, 2014 – The Satanic Temple says on their Facebook page that the statue will be “coming soon, in bronze and stone, to Oklahoma’s State Capitol”
  • October 23, 2014 – Michael Tate Reed drives his car into the Ten Commandments monument. He claims Satan told him to do it.
  • January 8, 2015 – A replacement monument is made and set up
  • June 30, 2015 – Prescott v. Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission ends when the Supreme Court of Oklahoma rules in favor of the plaintiffs July 25, 2015 – Satanic Temple’s statue is publicly unveiled at a Detroit event.
  • October 7, 2015 – The Ten Commandments monument gets physically removed
  • June 2017 – Michael Tate Reed, the same vandal from 2014, drives his car into another Ten Commandments monument, this time in Arkansas. He claims he’s a Christian.
  • Nov 2018 – The Satanic Temple sues Netflix because of a statue likeness