You want to know why so many of us think that the Religious Right is wrong (in both the literal and figurative sense)? I present unto you, exhibit A:

Click the picture for a larger image.

Move along, people, no Christian triumphalism to see here.

Where to begin? First, notice that the 72-foot tall Lady LiberJesus (actually named the “Statue of Christian Liberty”) holds the Ten Commandments in her left hand. Unfortunately you can’t make this out in the photo, but so far, only the First Commandment has been engraved onto the tablets. One can easily imagine them getting to Commandment #2 and thinking, “Aww, crap!”

Backstory here. And hat tip to Kevin R., who told me about this and insisted that I go see it for myself. You may think you live in the buckle of the Bible Belt, but let me assure you, our Jesus can beat up your Jesus.

UPDATE:  First, let me make it clear that I don’t think there’s anything illegal about what they’ve done here.  Horribly misguided, absolutely, but illegal, no.  It’s a privately-funded structure on private property, and it violates no zoning requirements I’m aware of, so it’s legally just fine.  That doesn’t make it spiritually okay, though.  Never mind the fact that the second commandment seems to clearly prohibit this sort of thing; I doubt Jesus would be terribly impressed if he saw it.  Otherwise, I’ll let David Opderbeck, a conservative evangelical Christian, take this one:

[T[he message it sends to those outside the Christian faith is awful. Some of us may look at this and think, "yes, Jesus gives freedom to the tired, the hungry, the huddled masses, through the cross." That's true, and it's an important message. But for most people outside the American evangelical subculture, this says "America: by, for, and of Christians, and no one else."