Judge puts statue in perspective
In dismissing a lawsuit seeking the removal of the Big Mountain Jesus statue, U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen did a fine job of explaining with multiple arguments why the statue is not unconstitutional.
The Constitution’s Establishment Clause says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” It is often referred to informally as the requirement for a “separation of church and state,” and thus served as the basis of the lawsuit objecting to the statue because it was located on national forest land.
Well, an obscure statue of Jesus that has been in place on the mountain for nearly 60 years, put there by the Knights of Columbus as a memorial to World War II veterans, just doesn’t rise to the level of an Establishment Clause violation, even if it does require a special-use permit from the U.S. Forest Service, Christensen ruled.
While the statue may have religious origins, it has evolved over time into a “historical landmark and curiosity,” Christensen wrote, later explaining that the Forest Service needs only to be “motivated in part by a secular purpose” for the special-use permit to be constitutional.
Perhaps more important are public perceptions of the statue. Most people, if they even happen to see the statue, are far more likely to associate it with the Whitefish Mountain Resort, or formerly the Big Mountain ski area, than they are with the Forest Service. The statue is on a small plot of leased national forest land, but the resort has managed the area for decades and the statue has been maintained by the Knights of Columbus.
Permitting the statue does not amount to “excessive government entanglement,” Christensen wrote.
Bottom line is that one needs to search far and wide for someone who has actually been offended by the statue, but the Wisconsin-based plaintiff in the case, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, was content to conjure up indignation over the statue.
The truth is, the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s mission is to scrub religion from the public square, kind of like the Taliban’s very intolerant tendency to destroy non-Islamic religious monuments. The foundation is very much an anti-religion organization claiming a special right not to be offended, hell-bent on making society conform to its positions. And that’s a pretty offensive stance to have in a country where reverence is pervasive, and where the government really does keep a good distance from endorsing or promoting religion in an in-your-face way that would clash with the Establishment Clause.
It would be nice if people exercised common sense about these kinds of things, but that’s in short supply these days, so we gladly take this opportunity to celebrate the wisdom of Judge Christensen.
No doubt this isn’t the last we’ve heard about Big Mountain Jesus since the permit has to be renewed by the Forest Service every 10 years, but for now Judge Christensen got it right: It’s just not that big of a deal. Let the statue stay put!
Editorials represent the majority opinion of the Daily Inter Lake’s editorial board.