ICC Note: As previously reported, the presence of a Ten Commandments display on public property in Oklahoma has been the source of contentious debate for years. Last week, lawmakers passed a bill that would permit the Ten Commandments display to be placed on public grounds, as long as it is being presented in a historical context. This display is one of many Ten Commandments displays across the United States that have led to legal battles throughout the past few years.

05/05/2018 United States (Christian News Network) – Lawmakers in Oklahoma have passed a bill that would allow for the display of the Ten Commandments in public buildings and on the grounds of such facilities in the context of being a historical display.

The House of Representatives passed H.B. 2177 on Thursday 60-14 after clearing the Senate overwhelmingly last week 39-3. It now moves to the desk of Gov. Mary Fallin.

“Every county, municipality, city, town, school or any other political subdivision is authorized to display, in its public buildings and on its grounds, replicas of historical documents including, but not limited to, the Ten Commandments, Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, Oklahoma Constitution and other historically significant documents in the form of statues, monuments, memorials, tablets or any other display that respects the dignity and solemnity of such documents,” the bill reads in part.

Sen. Michael Bergstrom, R-Adair, was among the legislation’s supporters.

“If we’re going to ban a document of this historic importance because it speaks of God, then we need to ban the Declaration of Independence,” he stated, according to Public Radio Tulsa, also pointing to the Gettysburg Address. “Obviously, each of these bans would be ludicrous.”

One lawmaker, Senate Minority Leader John Sparks, D-Norman, sought to amend the measure to state that if the Oklahoma attorney general had to defend the matter in court, the legal costs should be taken from the road funds of the bill’s authors. The proposal failed 7 to 33, according to Tulsa World.

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