Music City Mall, formally known as Vista Ridge Mall, in Lewisville, Texas (north of Dallas) has a new attraction meant to stop shoppers in their tracks. The eight-foot-tall stone tablet engraved with the Ten Commandments was unveiled the Friday after Christmas.
The mall’s new owner, John Bushman, places a sculptural representation of the Ten Commandments at all of his properties. Mall general manager Richard Morton says it’s part of Bushman’s “…belief system, and he’s not ashamed to share it.”
According to a video interview with Richard Morton , the Ten Commandments stone weighs 5,900 pounds and cost around $12,000. “We want to create a family atmosphere, and this sets the foundation for that,” he said, standing in front of the structure.
Of course, the decision to place the large piece of stone inside of a mall has garnered all kinds of responses from Texans. Some say they’re glad to see the Ten Commandments, while others feel that the religious piece doesn’t belong in the middle of a mall. Others wonder if it’s part of a final effort to revive the mall that’s been struggling for many years.