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OKLAHOMA CITY — A bill to allow the Ten Commandments to be placed on the Capitol grounds has won approval in a Senate committee over arguments it is unconstitutional.

The Senate General Government Committee approved the bill Tuesday on a 5-3 vote. It now advances to the Senate floor for consideration. It will likely wind up in a joint House-Senate conference committee.

Sen. Jim Wilson, D-Tahlequah, argued it was a religious display prohibited on state property by the state Constitution.

But Sen. Randy Brogdon, R-Owasso, said the monument recognized the historical importance of the Ten Commandments and had "nothing to do with religious viewpoints."

Freshman Rep. Mike Ritze, R-Broken Arrow, introduced the bill, proposing installation of a 3-by-6-foot monument on the Capitol grounds similar to a granite monument of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol in Austin.

Ritze said his family would pay for the estimated $10,000 cost of the project.

Wilson said the Texas monument was 40-years-old and was "an aberration." The Ten Commandments structure in Texas is in a monument park.

The Oklahoma Constitution is even more stringent that the U.S. Constitution in banning religious monuments from public property, Wilson said.

"We're going to spend a lot of money (defending a lawsuit challenging the measure) and we're going to lose," he said.

He said Oklahoma could not defend the monument and reject other monuments with a religious theme that might be sought by Muslims or members of other religions.

Brogdon said the precedent for such monuments had already been set at courthouses and on other public property.

He said lawmakers would be erecting the Ten Commandments monument to recognize the historical basis for "our rule of law" and nothing else.

Some senators wondered about what language would be used on the monument, saying the wording of the Ten Commandments varies in different Bible versions.

"Probably an Oklahoma version, I imagine. Something that would suit us," Brogdon said.

One senator suggested the Ten Commandments would then read "You-all shall not kill." Another said it would be "y'all shall not kill."

The monument in Texas is based on the King James Version of the Bible.

Sen. Joe Sweeden, D-Pawhuska, was successful in amending the bill to remove reference to the Liberty Legal Institute. He said he did not know anything about the organization.

The organization's Web site says it is a 501C organization founded in Texas to protect religious freedoms and First Amendment rights.

frigidmagi wrote:Oklahoman English doesn't use Shall. We tend to use will or should in it's in place. Also we don't say Maw or Paw. Mom and Dad or Mom and Pops (although I have never used a 'pops' in my damn life and I'll be hung before I will). And we most definitely never say Git'er Done.

Seriously you're using the wrong speech patterns, instead of Alabama, you want to think more like Kansas or Nebraska. Y'alls are used and words are drawled but there is a different word choice and flow to the speech. For example:

Y'all shouldn't be killing folks. Or Y'all will not murder (honestly the use of kill is a mistranslation and that is pretty common knowledge back home as is the knowledge of the different of killing and murdering).

This is going to cause one hell of a court case. My home may be one hell of a religious and red state but it's also a place of very stubborn and opinionated folks.

frigidmagi wrote:It's done that way on purpose. Most folks agree lying is bad so it gets stretched out a bit.