If advocates of the Satanic Temple get their way in court, then the Arkansas state capitol grounds could soon have a statue of Baphomet – an angel-winged goat – standing alongside its Ten Commandments monument.
A Ten Commandments monument was erected in 2017 on the Arkansas capitol grounds following the passage of a new law that allowed a privately funded monument to be erected. Although that monument was destroyed by a vandal within 24 hours of being installed, a new monument was erected in 2018, also using private funds.
The 2015 bill that passed the Arkansas legislature and was signed by the governor called the Ten Commandments “an important component of the moral foundation of the laws and legal system of the United States of America and of the State of Arkansas.” It also noted that the “courts of the United States of America and of various states frequently cite the Ten Commandments in published decisions.”
But the Satanic Temple, an atheist group that venerates the biblical Satan, believes the state of Arkansas should allow it to place a statue of Baphomet on the grounds. Baphomet is a pagan/gnostic idol dating to the 11th century.
The 2015 Arkansas bill labeled the Ten Commandments the “moral foundation of the law.”