Atheist Monument at Florida Courthouse to Protest 10 Commandments (VIDEO)
The first monument dedicated to atheism will be constructed alongside a Ten Commandments monument at a courthouse in Florida, according to reports.
The monument will be a bench weighing 1,500 pounds, and will stand in front of the Bradford County Courthouse in Starke, Florida.
Quotes from atheists such as Thomas Jefferson will be featured. It will also feature a passage from the Treaty of Tripoli, which states that the United States government was not founded on the basis of Christianity.
The idea of an atheism monument came about after the Ten Commandments monument was unveiled last year in the courthouse.
Dave Muscato, public relations director for American Atheists, filed a lawsuit claiming that the Ten Commandments did not belong on federal property.
He said: "(The first commandment says) thou shalt have no other gods before me. That's not an American thing to say, that you're supposed to be punished for worshipping another god."
American Atheists is one of the groups that created the atheist monument.
When Bradford Courthouse refused to remove the Ten Commandments monument after the lawsuit was filed, the atheist group started working on a monument of their own.
"If religious groups are going to have monuments, then it's only appropriate that we have matching monuments. But it's our preference that none of these are here," said Muscato.
The atheist monument is expected to be installed at the end of this month.
Here is a previous video news report from when the Ten Commandments monument was erected outside the Florida courthouse:
