After a Christian lobby won a fight to put up a statue on state land, US Satanists want the same right THE battle between church and state in the US has suffered a misfire. After a Christian lobby won the right to put up a statue outside a state parliament, a bunch of Satanists have sought the same right. Check out the statue they want to erect. The battleground is Oklahoma City. The conflict is the right to religious expression in a secular state. The weapons are the US Constitution, the 10 Commandments - and the Satanic demon Baphomet. The Oklahoma Statehouse has been the scene of an epic struggle between Christian lobbyists and those seeking to preserve the United States delicate separation of church and state since 2009. Little did they realise that the religious freedom arguments used in their successful campaign to have an iconic statue of the 10 Commandments in the statehouse grounds would be turned against them. Satanists have started a crowd-source campaign to raise the money needed to erect this statue of Baphomet on the Oklahoma state parliament grounds. Now that said religious freedom has been granted and State Representative Mike Ritze (former family doctor turned Republican politician on a pro-life ticket) and has his statue, the state's Satanists want the same. Instead of the familiar figure of two stone tablets inscribed with ancient words of wisdom, the Satanists want a figure close to their own hearts. And they've turned to crowdsourcing to find the $20,000 needed to build their demonic monolith. Proposed is a 2m-high monument to the goat-headed demon Baphomet - a figure made popular in recent fiction through its use in the medieval sham-trial to convict the medieval Church Knights, the Templars. Images depict the figure of Baphomet - a symbolic "demon" associated with the Satanic movement. The demon will sit on a stone slab with young children on either side. Inscribed on the monument will be the Satanist's iconic pentagram - and quotes from poets Lord Byron and William Blake. The proposal presents moral dilemma Oklahoma lawmakers have no qualms about ignoring. There is no hypocrisy in denying a faith other than Christianity such status, they insist. RELATED: Is America evolving into stupid? "This is a faith-based nation and a faith-based state," Republican State Representative Earl Sears said. I think it is very offensive they would contemplate or even have this kind of conversation. Constitutional experts disagree. Genesis of dispute ... The 10 Commandments statue erected on the grounds of Oklahoma's state parliament. "The state can disown the Ten Commandments monument erected at the Capitol with private funds as private speech, but then it cannot reject other privately donated religious monuments - even a satanic one - on the basis of viewpoint," a constitutional lawyer retorted. HAVE YOUR SAY: Religious right or left behind? Have your say on the statue spat in the comment box below. "If faith-based displays are to be allowed in public spaces in Oklahoma, then a multitude of faiths must be represented," a civil liberties union statement reads. Now local Satanists are claiming their constitutional rights. "Our monument celebrates an unwavering respect for the Constitutional values of religious freedom and free expression," a spokesman for the New York City-based Satanic Temple declared. Land of the free ... if you agree? Civil libertarians are outraged at the favoured status given to a Christian lobby group in Oklahoma. The statue will serve as a beacon calling for compassion and empathy among all living creatures. The statue will also have a functional purpose as a chair where people of all ages may sit on the lap of Satan for inspiration and contemplation. Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Society architect Duane Mass disagrees. That's Oklahoma's house. It's not the Satanic club of New York's house," she said. The Satanists are not the only organisation miffed at the special treatment being given to conservative Christian elements of the state's community. PETA and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster have also sought permission to install their own statues. But they quickly discovered the Oklahoma City Capitol Preservation Commission had suddenly placed a moratorium on new monuments. At $US20,000, critics of the 10 Commandments statue say they'd expect less typos. Now, it's all about preserving heritage. American Civil Liberties Union representative Ryan Kiesel agrees - but with a different outcome. "If, at the end of the day," he said, "the Ten Commandments monument is allowed to remain on the Capitol grounds with its overtly Christian message, then the Satanic Temple's proposal can't be rejected because it is of a different religious viewpoint." Freedom of religious expression is a cornerstone of the United States constitution, he said. The whole point is that we're a religiously pluralistic society, so if there's going to be one, there will be others, or at least we'll make the effort for such. Or there will be neither. Those are the only real options.