Massive Hindu idol bigger than Statue of Liberty to be installed in North Carolina
Giant golden statue of Hindu god Lord MuruganShutterstock(LifeSiteNews) — Plans are underway to build and install a massive 155-foot statue of a Hindu god in North Carolina that, once erected, would be the tallest statue in the United States.
The outlet Indian Eagle recently announced plans in Moncure, North Carolina, about 30 minutes southwest of Raleigh, to build the world’s largest statue of Lord Murugan, a warrior god of Hinduism. The statue will be part of the Carolina Murugan Temple Campus, for which 130 acres of land were purchased in 2019.
The statue will break a record as the largest in the United States, not including a pedestal. The Lord Murugan sculpture just surpasses the Statue of Liberty, which stands 151 feet tall, not including its also massive 154-foot base. Lord Murugan will have only a 35-foot pedestal.
The site plan received approval in late 2018 and now has its design completed and submitted to Chatham County. A Boomi Poojai ritual to honor the Mother Earth goddess was performed on the site in May 2021.
It will be the latest of a batch of Hindu sculptures erected in the U.S. that have recently included an 87-foot Tower of Unity and Prosperity inaugurated in 2022 in the nearby town of Cary on the outskirts of Raleigh and a 90-foot-tall statue of the monkey-headed Hindu god Lord Hanuman installed in 2024 on the outskirts of Houston, Texas.
While Hindus remain a small religious minority in the U.S. – only about 1 percent – its adherents are rapidly growing in the U.S. as are the number of Hindu temples. In 2023, it was reported that the number of Hindus in the U.S. had doubled over the last 15 years, and that the number of Hindu temples increased from 435 to about 1,000 in 20 years.
Both the Old Testament and New Testament Scriptures affirm that the “gods” of pagans are in fact demons:
“For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens.” (Psalm 95:5)
“They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known.” (Deut. 32:16-17)
“What then? Do I say, that what is offered in sacrifice to idols, is any thing? Or, that the idol is any thing? But the things which the heathens sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God. And I would not that you should be made partakers with devils.” (1 Cor 10:19-20)