27-Foot-Tall Blue Skinned Deity
Fort Wayne, Indiana
According to the 2021 Religious Landscape Study, fewer than one percent of adult Indiana residents are Hindu. So in June 2021, when the rural Omkaar Temple unexpectedly unveiled a 27-foot-tall statue of a blue-skinned seated deity (with a normal-size cow kneeling at its feet), local officials were stumped. If it was a "sign" -- because it directed people "to the activity and function" of the temple -- then it was clearly in violation of state's agricultural zoning law, which limits sign height to eight feet.
However, the Temple asked for a permit, and the town let the statue stay, judging that it was far enough back from the nearest farm road to not be overbearing, and surrounded by enough open land that it could almost blend into the rural scenery.