D.C. firm continues fight to save Jesus statue

A Washington D.C. nonprofit law firm is continuing its effort to keep a statue of Jesus on Big Mountain.

The Becket Fund For Religious Liberty, representing the Knights of Columbus. filed a brief April 30 in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. They are asking the court to affirm a district court decision that allowed the statue to remain on Flathead National Forest land.

The Wisconsin-based atheist group Freedom from Religion Foundation appealed the district court decision in February.

“The statue is an important piece of the history and culture at Big Mountain,” said Eric Baxter, senior counsel for the Becket Fund. “We don’t tear down history just because it has some religious aspects.”

The Jesus statue is located on a small piece of national forest land above Chair 2 at Whitefish Mountain Resort. The statue has been maintained at the location by the Knights of Columbus for about 60 years and is considered a memorial to World War II veterans.

Freedom from Religion Foundation claims that the statue is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution that provides for the separation of church and state.

The Becket Fund primarily works on First Amendment litigation on behalf of people of faith against the government, and in defense of the government when it is sued for being “religion-friendly.”

They argue private religious speech does not violate the Establishment Clause just because it takes place on public land. The group notes the Jesus statue has a large plaque explaining it is owned and maintained by the Knights and was erected to honor World War II soldiers.

“The government allows all kinds of private activity in our National Forests and there is a large plaque next to the statue explaining its origins and purpose,” said Baxter. “No reasonable person would think that the Forest Service is trying to establish a national religion through the statue, any more than they would think it is trying to establish a national sport by allowing the ski resort to also use the mountain.”

The Becket Fund brief argues that any religious activity in connection with the statue has been “sporadic and inconsistent” over the years.

The brief also argues FFRF recruited participants in its lawsuit.

“One of them joined FFRF after the lawsuit was filed, and another has no expectation of ever seeing the monument again,” the brief states.

In a decision last year, U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen ruled that leasing public land within a private ski resort to a private organization that maintains the statue does not violate the Establishment Clause. The ruling allowed the Flathead National Forest to re-issue a 10-year permit for the statue held by the Knights of Columbus.

Christensen said that the statue’s presence does not convey that the government endorses Christianity over any other faith or absence of faith.

The Flathead Forest initially denied a permit to the Knights of Columbus and called for removal or the statue. The decision was suspended after public outcry and the issue was opened to public review. The forest eventually reauthorized a special use permit last year. The decision came after about 95,000 comments were received during an environmental analysis of the permit.