A big decision over a big statue: in a 2 - 1 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court's 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the 12 foot tall Big Mountain Jesus statue can stay.

Freedom From Religion Foundation Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor said that her organization is still not satisfied with the decision and will pursue more legal action.

"The first thing that we would do, is call for an 'en bank'," Gaylor said. "Which would be a review of this decision by the entire panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 9th district, which is the largest group of judges. It is a very liberal circuit and we would like the other judges to look at, what we consider to be specious reasoning: that a Jesus statue is not religious."

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.

"This is a lease, that is free... for years and years," Gaylor said. " The Knights of Columbus which is a bonafide, male, catholic, theocratic organization has had free use of this ski slope to place this enormous, prominent Jesus to proselytize skiers, and to have a court say that that is 'fine' is really a travesty."

The statue has been in court a lot over the past years, with the U.S. Forest Service and the Knights of Columbus seeing multiple wins. The special use permit was reissued in 2012 and will continue for ten years. The way the Forest Service sees it, the statue does not constitute an establishment of religion as it is a war memorial.

The statue has been there since 1954 and is described by the Knights of Columbus as a World War II memorial. It was put in place by the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division after being commissioned by the Knights of Columbus.

 

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