Dan O'Neil, the mayor of Edmond, a conservative Oklahoma suburb, has decided not to use $3,900 in city funds to pay for a bronze statue of Jesus Christ. Instead, O'Neill says he plans to secure private funding to pay for the city's portion of the funding. The statue is planned for a sidewalk outside a Catholic gift shop which raised the remaining $7,800 to pay for the rest of the cost of the sculpture.

The Edmond Visual Arts Commission approved the funding and claims the work is not a religious endorsement. The head of the commission, June Cartwright, said "It doesn't state that it is specifically Jesus. It is whatever you perceive it to be." The artist who created the work, Rosalind Cook, seems to contradict Cartwright on her Web site, writing, "Every major line leads to the face of Christ who is the focal point and apex of the sculpture."

The city has run into trouble with similar issues in the past, including trying to fund a statue of Moses outside a church and to keep a cross on its city seal.

The executive director of the Washington D.C.–based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Barry Lynn, said he was "delighted" by the mayor's decision.