In 2014 the Freedom From Religion Foundation appealed the dismissal of their lawsuit intended to remove a statue of Jesus from public land (which is leased as a ski resort). The affectionately named “Big Mountain Jesus” statue was erected as a memorial to the 10th Mountain Division, who recalled seeing many similar shrines during their campaign in Italy during World War II.
A 3-member panel of the 9th Circuit Read more
Tattoo, tattoo, lights out in five minutes, standby for the evening prayer…
The Stars and Stripes discusses the Navy tradition of evening shipwide prayers as it relates to the USS New York, a ship forged from the steel of the World Trade Center:
Each night at precisely 9:55, the chaplain on the USS New York delivers the evening prayer from Read more
The atheist attempt to pull Jesus off the mountain will now to go the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals:
The lawsuit was brought by the Madison, Wisconsin-based group the Freedom From Religion Foundation…
Last June, Chief Judge Dana L. Christensen of the United States District Court for the District of Montana, Missoula Division, dismissed the FFRF’s lawsuit.
In a statement regarding the dismissal, Read more
The World, a local Oregon paper, reported that the previously unknown Veterans United for Non-religious Memorials claimed responsibility for the “bombing” of the Coos Bay veteran’s memorial:
“Apparently you are not receiving our message about the Mingus Park Veterans Memorial,” the letter reads. “We gave you warnings with the minor explosive devices at the memorial and at the Bay Area House of Prayer.”
“From now forward, we hold each of you personally responsible for causing deeper grief and insult to the families and friends of non-Christian Veterans.”
The FBI is investigating.
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The Freedom From Religion Foundation has sued over a war memorial — a statue of Jesus on a ski slope in Montana — which they claim violates the US Constitution. The FFRF lost and has appealed to the Ninth Circuit.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty produced a video to explain some of the history of the memorial — history the FFRF calls a conspiracy. Meet Gene Thomas, a member of the Knights of Columbus, one of the men who has been caring for the memorial for 40 years.
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The Freedom From Religion Foundation has been on the prowl for the slightest hint of religion in the public square, targeting as obscure monuments as Jesus at a ski resort and a war memorial in Coos Bay, Oregon.
Apparently, someone didn’t think they were moving fast enough and tried to blow it up:
An unknown individual detonated the IED near the memorial, located at Mingus Park in the City of Coos Bay, sometime late night between last Thursday and last Friday.
For its part, the FFRF naturally denounced the violence.
“We expressly do not Read more
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has filed an appeal after a court recently ruled that the Jesus statue on Big Mountain ski resort could remain standing. The statue is on public land, and
The group argues the statue violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on Congress making any law regarding an establishment of religion.
The original court ruling had cited the historic value of the statue, and even made a point of saying the statue was more of a tourist attraction than religious monument. The FFRF apparently thinks that’s all part of a conspiracy: Read more
Update: The memorial was approved, though some expect a lawsuit. It seems some in the atheist community are hesitant to criticize the memorial out of fear of being accused of insensitivity or anti-Semitism (a hesitation not seen when the issue is a cross, rather than a Star of David). A commenter on another site had a fairly objective observation:
When symbols are used to represent historical/cultural events, the fact they are religious should not be a sole justification for not using them — only when the intent of the symbol is to promote a religious viewpoint do they become a problem.
In fact, to tell Jewish Holocaust survivors that they cannot be represented by on the most import icons of their internment and murder would be a terrible insult…Jews were forced to wear a Star of David on their exterior clothing to mark them for abuse by the Nazis…
The next logical question, then, is whether a cross can adorn a memorial if its purpose is “not to promote a religious viewpoint.”
Also at Foxnews.
Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, the husband and wife team that make up The Freedom From Religion Foundation, have called on their supporters to fill the gallery in the Ohio State Capitol today as a meeting is held on a proposed holocaust memorial.
The FFRF’s objection? The Holocaust memorial contains a large Star of David, which raises “constitutional concerns.”
Despite the FFRF’s apparent revisionist thinking, Read more