ATHEISTS LOSE: A big win for religion as Big Mountain Jesus remains

Big Mountain Jesus memorial will remain.

Atheist activists lost a years-long battle this week over the "Big Mountain Jesus statue," which has been standing for over 60 years on public land near the Big Mountain ski resort in Montana.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - The statue was made to memorialize World War II soldiers, and its case has been in and out of the court system since 2012. The Freedom From Religion Foundation has maintained that the statue's presence on public property is unconstitutional. However, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that the statue can stay, because it is located within government-owned land.

"Does a statue standing alone in the forest establish an official state religion? Today the Ninth Circuit emphatically said no." Eric Baxter, an attorney with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said. "The Court rightly rejected Freedom From Religion Foundation's radical idea that a privately-owned memorial standing in the middle of a ski resort violates the Constitution."

In 2013, a judge stated that the monument could remain. At the time, Becket Fund explained the intricate history behind the land on which the statue stands. According to the Fund, the Knights of Columbus leased the land from the U.S. Forest Service and renewed its agreement with the government every 10 years without incident until 2010.

Initially the government reconsidered the statue's placement following atheist statements, but officials eventually decided to allow it. The decision led the Freedom From Religion Foundation to sue.

"Federal taxpayers are subsidizing religious speech, in this case Catholic," Freedom From Religion Foundation co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor said.

Nonetheless, Big Mountain Jesus has gone through years of court trials and has finally been approved to remain on full display.

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