Jesus statue on national forest land can stay, court rules

It is affectionately known to skiers and other outdoor enthusiasts as “Big Mountain Jesus” — a 6-foot-tall public sculpture of Christ that has stood for the past six decades on national forest land in Whitefish, Mont.

This week, a federal appeals court ruled that the work of art can stay put following an effort to remove it organized by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national nonprofit group that advocates for the separation of church and state and is seen by some as a promotional organization for atheism.

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 ruling Monday stating that the statue’s presence on federal land doesn’t violate the Establishment Clause, the part of the First Amendment that forbids government from establishing religion.

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In its ruling, the court said that “there is nothing in the statue’s display or setting to suggest government endorsement” and that the statue’s plaque “communicates that it is privately owned and maintained.”

The court also said that locals and visitors have long treated the statue in humorous ways, decorating it with ski attire and posing with it in Facebook pictures, thus suggesting “secular perceptions and uses.”

Citing the 2005 Supreme Court case Van Orden v. Perry, in which the high court ruled that the public display of the Ten Commandments in Texas was constitutional, the 9th Circuit said that the Establishment Clause “does not compel the government to purge from the public sphere all that in any way partakes of the religious.”

In a dissenting opinion, Judge Harry Pregerson stated that a reasonable observer would see the Jesus statue sitting on government land as “projecting a message of religious endorsement.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation sued to have the statue removed in 2012. The next year, a federal judge rejected the suit, leading to an appeal.

Nearly 59 years ago, the Knights of Columbus created the Jesus statue, which stands on a white pedestal, as a memorial to the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division that fought in Italy during World War II.

The Knights have leased the small plot of land in Flathead National Forest from the U.S. Forest Service, an agency of the Department of Agriculture.

Twitter: @DavidNgLAT

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