The Freedom From Religion Foundation’s attempts to remove a statue of Jesus from a piece of federal land has been denied by a panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The statue, called “Big Mountain Jesus” by local residents, was the target of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The group claimed the existence of the statue was the government endorsing Christianity and thus a violation of the Constitution.
Two of the three judges on the panel backed the ruling of U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen who found the secular and irreverent uses of the statue overshadowed any religious use.
Christensen noted that the monument had been a wedding location, covered in ski apparel and even Mardi Gras beads.
“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,” said Eric Baxter, senior counsel with the Becket Fund.
The group says they will appeal the decision to the full 9th Circuit Court.
The members of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Charleston, South Carolina received a shocking awakening on Sunday morning when a man decapitated a statue of Jesus.
Witnesses say that a man with a Kobalt sledgehammer approached the statue outside the church around 5:45 a.m. and then lopped off Jesus’ head. The witnesses called police who found Charles Jeffrey Short, 38, walking near the church a short time later and he admitted to committing the crime.
Police found the sledgehammer covered in dust and residue in the man’s backpack.
Short told police that he did so because of the Ten Commandments.
“I think I used a sledgehammer to strike that statue about six or seven times, because the first or second commandment states to not make an image of a male or female to be on display to the public,” Short told officers.
Police are investigating if Short was behind a similar attack on statues last week at a different church. The head and hands of a statue of Jesus and a child were broken off and missing.
A piece of artwork called Homeless Jesus that features an image of Jesus lying on a park bench covered in a blanket is drawing outrage from some residents in Davidson, North Carolina.
The sculpture in front of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church was created by the artist as “a representation that suggests Christ is with the most marginalized in our society.” The artwork shows a part of Christ’s face but shows his entire nail-scarred feet.
The sculpture is a duplicate of a piece on display in Vatican City that was blessed by Pope Francis. Reverend Dr. David Buck, rector of St. Alban’s, said the artwork is beautiful and reminds Christians their ultimate calling is to do what they can individually to take care of those in need of shelter, food and clothing.
However, some residents of the area are upset with the Sculpture.
One woman, Cindy Castano Swannack, called police when she drove past it the first time thinking a homeless person was lying on a bench in her neighborhood.
“My complaint is not about the art-worthiness of meaning behind the sculpture,” Davidson resident Jerry Dawson wrote in a letter to the editor. “It is about people driving into our beautiful, reasonably upscale neighborhood and seeing an ugly homeless person sleeping on a park bench.”
The church says they will not remove the sculpture.
