Atheists Attack “Big Mountain Jesus” Memorial to Fallen American WWII Soldiers

National Catholic Register ^ | 7/13/15 | Joseph Pronechen

[markomalley]

In Whitefish, Montana, the spectacular view from anywhere on Big Mountain up to its summit over 6,800 feet overlooks placid Flathead Lake, the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi, and the Valley below, while its slopes have attracted skiers for decades.

Near Glacier National Park, this hardly seems a place where a battle goes on over a statue called “Big Mountain Jesus.”

The statue has stood on a tiny 25-foot-by-25-foot piece of leased land high up on the mountain for over 60 years as a memorial honoring soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division who lost their lives fighting in the Alps of Italy.

But it has somehow “offended” a group of atheists who want it removed. The tiny parcel is leased by private citizens, like parts of the ski area itself by the resort, from the U.S. Forest Service. One of the group’s members no longer feels able to ski there because the statue is somewhere on the mountain.

The atheists threatened to sue the Forest Service because it was renewing the permit for the monument every ten years, without ever an incident. At first the Forest Service buckled and denied the permit when time came to renew.

But people didn’t take it sitting down. Thousands of letters and petitions poured in to leave the Big Mountain Jesus statue where it was.

[Alex Murphy]

In Whitefish, Montana, the spectacular view from anywhere on Big Mountain up to its summit over 6,800 feet overlooks placid Flathead Lake, the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi, and the Valley below, while its slopes have attracted skiers for decades. Near Glacier National Park, this hardly seems a place where a battle goes on over a statue called “Big Mountain Jesus.”

The statue has stood on a tiny 25-foot-by-25-foot piece of leased land high up on the mountain for over 60 years as a memorial honoring soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division who lost their lives fighting in the Alps of Italy. But it has somehow “offended” a group of atheists who want it removed. The tiny parcel is leased by private citizens, like parts of the ski area itself by the resort, from the U.S. Forest Service. One of the group’s members no longer feels able to ski there because the statue is somewhere on the mountain.

[Olog-hai]

We are in an ideological war. From a Marxist viewpoint, an atheistic mind is already three-fourths conquered.

— The Naked Communist, Chapter 12.

Well beyond the three-fourths mark now.

[Resolute Conservative]

uckfay atheists. (My pig Latin for the year)

[reed13k]

I thought that the SC already addressed a similar issue and therefore it is “law of the land” (sarc)

[navyguy]

“One of the group’s members no longer feels able to ski there because the statue is somewhere on the mountain.”

His problem isn’t a statue of Jesus. His problem is a mental disorder that needs to be diagnosed. Paranoia or some phobia or some other disorder. Maybe Liberalism... that’s a serious and widespread disorder.

[Noumenon]

Someone needs to attack the atheists. With a tomahawk.

[tflabo]

Godless atheists will be eternally crying forever just to have another glance at a Jesus statue of any kind. Pity the fools.

[TexasRepublic]

Why don’t those militant atheists immigrate to an officially atheist state and stop offending the rest of us? They should feel right at home in North Korea.

[skeeter]

Vile people.

[Cincinnatus.45-70]

Is there a difference between these people tearing down religious works and ISIS doing the same thing? I’m having a hard time seeing it, if there is.

[mad_as_he$$]

Exactly. If there is no God why is the statue of a non-existent entity offensive?

[Olog-hai]

Frankly, there isn’t, that I can see. Too similar, apart from the level of violence used to achieve the goals thereof.

[SunkenCiv]

The only fitting replacement would be a pyramid made up of the severed heads of any atheists supporting its removal. Thanks markomalley.

[West Texas Chuck]

How much of a loser do you have to be to obsess over statues on a mountain? To get yer knickers all twisted up because that thing is up there and you can’t stop yourself from looking at it? And thinking about it, laying in the bed in your mom’s basement. The Constitution promised us we’d all be free from religion.

Or something.

[BBell]

I hate militant atheists. I know a number of atheists but none of them are militants.

[Foolsgold]

We have a Vietnam Memorial attached to our American Legion in La Mesa, Ca. Several years ago an athiest was covering the cross with a flag, the Commanders wife kicked over his ladder and turned the hose him.