The memorial is located at the Whitefish Mountain Resort, on US Forest Service Land.
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The appeals court ruled in favor of the Forest Service on Monday, saying the agency hadn’t violated the “Establishment Clause”, which prevents the federal government from preferring, or endorsing, one religion over another.
An appeals court ruled this week that a decades-old Jesus statue in Flathead National Forest in Montana is constitutional and will stay despite objections from an atheist group.
But the 9 U.S. Circuit Court then blocked Lovell’s ruling while it considered the state’s appeal, and the campaign manager for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Bullock filed a complaint against Hill for violating the contribution limits.
In a Monday decision, the judges upheld a district court ruling that allowed for “Big Mountain Jesus” to remain at Flathead National Forest near Kalispell, Montana.
“Although the dissent focuses on the monument’s appearance, that the statue is of a religious figure, and that some of the initial impetus for the statue’s placement was religiously motivated, does not end the matter”, the statement added.
The three-judge panel agreed with a federal decide from Montana, who discovered the statue’s secular and irreverent makes use of – as a gathering place and for photograph alternatives – far outweigh its few spiritual makes use of. It had a statue of Jesus with arms outstretched.
Erected here by the Knights of Columbus during the 1950s as a memorial for the fallen soldiers of World War II, the statue, measuring 6 feet in height is still a landmark for many.
Rules in effect at that time said the Forest Service “shall renew” the permits if the memorials were still being used for the objective previously authorized and were being maintained. It was put in place by the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division after being commissioned by the Knights of Columbus.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday granted the request for dismissal by Montana Attorney General Tim Fox’s office.
In a statement about the dismissal, FFRF co-presidents Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker said Christensen’s decision was based on “torturous logic”.
The lawsuit, brought by the Freedom From Religion Foundation hoped to claim that the statue was primarily religious in nature and should be seen as a government establishing a particular religion (Roman Catholicism), because the lease for the federally owned land on which the statue was placed, is free.
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Upon the renewal, the Forest Service labeled the statue as a historical display rather than a religious icon.
