Athiest Monument To Be Erected Next To Ten Commandments At Florida County Courthouse

By the end of the month, a courthouse in Northern Florida will be home to a display of the Ten Commandments, as well as a brand new atheist monument.

The monument will be in the form of a 1,500-pound granite bench and will feature quotes from the minds of Thomas Jefferson, American founding father and third president of the United States, and Madalyn Murray O'Hair, former president of the organization American Atheists. There will be a short iteration from the English version of the Treaty of Tripoli, that says the U.S. was not founded on the Christian religion.

The monument's more unique feature will be the included list of punishments for violating the Commandments.

David Viviano, a supporter of the monument, moved to Florida from New York and said he did not realize the "big deal" with being an atheist before.

"I've always been an atheist, and up in New York it really wasn't a big deal or anything, and it really wasn't brought up in conversation," he said.

And after moving to Florida he shared that "for the longest time, I was really just in the closet about it."

The organization behind the Ten Commandments display made a Facebook post in March thanking its supporters and placing faith in God to work things out.

"We want you all to remember that this issue was won on the basis of this being a free speech issue, don't be alarmed when the American Atheists want to erect their own sign or monument. It's their right.," the post read. "As for us, we will continue to honor the Lord and that's what matters."

This all coming at the end of a long lawsuit where atheists have been fighting for a space to share their beliefs in the same manner Christians do in this space- in the form of a physical monument.

According to the Gainesville Sun the county "wanted to avoid the lawsuit, which could have required the government to spend taxpayer dollars on an issue related to the monument."

Reporting, "When the county approved monument guidelines in October 2011, it designated the courtyard in front of the courthouse as a free speech forum... Monuments must be erected by groups at no expense to the county."

The Stiefel Freethought Foundation will be funding the monument at the cost of $6,000.

The monument will be revealed on June 29.