Texas Christians on horseback traveled 100 miles from Wichita Falls to Oklahoma to deliver a table engraved with the Ten Commandments after a monument was removed from the capitol grounds this month due to a lawsuit.
John Riggs, pastor of the Texoma Cowboy Church in Wichita Falls, regretted the removal of the Ten Commandments monument in Oklahoma.
"We're riding for the law of God today. We fully believe that this country was founded upon the principles of God's Word. It breaks our hearts to see where this country is headed and to see the removal of the law of God from our land, from our buildings," he said, according to Christian News Network.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court ordered the monument to be removed from the capitol grounds last June, saying it is unconstitutional.
Riggs said they followed the Oklahoma case and decided to make a smaller version of the monument and give it to Gov. Mary Fallin.
They started the trip on Tuesday and arrived in Oklahoma on Friday where about 40 Christians greeted them.
"I believe it starts with the Church. And so the message for me is to the Church in America today: To say to wake up, to stand up, to speak up. To speak up for the things we hold to be true and dear," he said.
Fallin thanked them for the gesture.
"They cared so much about what was happening in Oklahoma and cared so much about the Ten Commandments and what it represents—the morality of society — that they rode horses all the way to Oklahoma from Texas. You know, sometimes Texas and Oklahoma may have a little competition, but in this thing we stand together," she told the Star Tribune, adding that she would put the tablet in her office.
Last month the Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission voted to authorise the Office of Management and Enterprise Services to remove a six-foot Ten Commandments monument.
The state Supreme Court said the monument violated the Oklahoma Constitution that barred government property from being used to promote "church denomination or system of religion."
The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the lead plaintiff was liberal minister Bruce Prescott, director of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists.
Prescott said the monument violated the Establishment Clause.
Fallin opposed the removal of the monument while the state was appealing the case.
"The Ten Commandments monument was built to recognise and honour the historical significance of the Commandments in our state's and nation's systems of laws," she said.
