Big Mountain Jesus Case to be Heard on Appeal

An atheist group seeking to remove a statue of Jesus from Big Mountain will present its case before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals next week, reigniting a polemic between locals trying to save the historic figure and the out-of-state organization that wants it gone.

The fate of the iconic, 6-foot-tall Jesus statue perched along a ski run at Whitefish Mountain Resort has been in flux for years as the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation has fought to evict the figure, which occupies a swatch of federal land and thus raises a First Amendment quandary.

The group originally sued the U.S. Forest Service in 2012, but lost its initial case following a Missoula federal judge’s ruling that the statue does not raise any First Amendment issues. The group appealed the ruling and an appellate court will now determine the case.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a notice of appeal in August 2013, arguing the statue violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on Congress making any law regarding an establishment of religion.

“A permanent Catholic shrine on public land is prohibited by the Establishment Clause, every bit as much as a Catholic church would be,” according to the group’s brief filed last year.

In addition to the U.S. Forest Service, the Knights of Columbus, who commissioned the statue more than 60 years ago, are named as defendants in the case. They have maintained that it’s a World War II veteran memorial.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is representing the defendants through the appellate process.

The case has drawn extensive controversy, and the Forest Service received more than 95,000 comments on the issue during a 30-day period in 2011. It also sought to have the statue listed in the National Register of Historic Places

U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen ruled the Forest Service could reissue a 10-year permit to keep the 60-year-old statue on the ski slope, saying it did not represent a religious purpose.

“The permit does not reflect a religious purpose by USFS, its primary effect neither advances nor inhibits religion, and no excessive government entanglement exists by its reissuance,” Christensen wrote in 2013. “Big Mountain Jesus has been the subject of much frivolity over the years. In addition to serving as a meeting place on the mountain for skiers and a site for weddings, it has not infrequently been observed adorned with ski poles, goggles, ski hats, Mardi Gras beads and other attire, all secular in nature. In fact, frequent repairs have been made to the outstretched hands of Big Mountain Jesus which have been dislodged by passing skiers who have given a ‘high-five’ to the statue.”

The Jesus statue was installed by a local chapter of the Knights of Columbus in 1955 after the group’s members applied for a special-use permit. The Knights of Columbus Council No. 1328, whose members maintain the statue and lease the site, say the Jesus statue honors local veterans who served in World War II. When the troops returned to Northwest Montana, they told stories about religious shrines they encountered in the mountains abroad, and some of the veterans were instrumental in developing the ski resort on Big Mountain.