Judge rules: Jesus statue can stay [View all]

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Kalispell, MT, Daily Inter Lake

Posted: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 10:00 am | Updated: 10:23 am, Tue Jun 25, 2013.

Judge rules: Jesus statue can stay

The famed Jesus statue on Big Mountain can remain where it is — at least for now — thanks to a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen that was announced on Monday. ... The Freedom From Religion Foundation had challenged the legality of the statue because it is located on national forest land above Chair 2 at Whitefish Mountain Resort.

Christensen, a former Kalispell attorney, granted the defendant’s request for summary judgment to allow the Flathead National Forest to reissue the permit for the statue, which has been maintained on the ski hill by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization, for 60 years.

“Leasing public land within a private ski resort to a private organization that maintains a statue of Jesus does not violate the establishment clause,” Christensen ruled, referring to the First Amendment’s assurance that the state shall not establish a religion.

“The statue does not convey to a reasonable informed observer that the government rather than a private party endorses Christianity over any other faith or the absence of faith,” the federal court based in Missoula decided.



Read more: http://www.dailyinterlake.com/news/local_montana/article_8b0dca8a-dd3c-11e2-a977-001a4bcf887a.html

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From The Missoulian:

Judge: Jesus statue can stay on Big Mountain

HELENA — A Jesus statue that has for six decades been a curiosity to skiers as they cruise down a popular run at a northwest Montana ski resort will not be evicted from federal land, a judge ruled Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen said the Flathead National Forest can re-issue a 10-year permit for the statue installed on the ski hill by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men's organization.

The judge disagreed with a Wisconsin-based group of atheists and agnostics that argued the Forest Service was unconstitutionally sanctioning the statue. Its religious nature has been made clear in special-use permit applications since the 1950s, the Freedom From Religion Foundation had argued.