Atheists Take Credit For Statue Ruling

A national atheist organization took credit Thursday for persuading the U.S. Forest Service to deny a special use permit that for decades has allowed a statue of Jesus Christ to occupy a bite of public land on Big Mountain. The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, which works to keep religion out of government, said the land lease was “unconstitutional” because religious symbolism cannot legally exist on federal property. The group claimed responsibility for a recent Forest Service decision that could lead to the statue’s removal from a small swatch of Flathead National Forest land. The statue has been perched at the top of Whitefish Mountain Resort’s Chair 2 since 1955, and was installed by a local chapter of the Knights of Columbus as a memorial to veterans of World War II, who encountered religious shrines in the mountains abroad/ Tristan Scott , Missoulian. More here. (Wikipedia illustration of Jesus the Good Shepherd)

Question: Do you agree with USFS decision to remove that long-standing statue of Jesus Christ from Whitefish’s Big Mountain ski area?