Skiing atheist joins lawsuit to remove Whitefish Jesus statue; case moves forward
7 hours ago • By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Missoulian
WHITEFISH – A lawsuit calling for the removal of a statue of Jesus from a patch of federal land at Whitefish Mountain Resort will move forward to trial after a national organization of atheists and agnostics identified a local member and avid skier who regularly encounters the statue on Big Mountain and finds it offensive.
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The group in turn filed an amended complaint identifying individual members “who have had direct and unwanted exposure” to the statue and have “altered their conduct to avoid Big Mountain because of the Jesus statue.”
“The plaintiff Cox is a frequent skier and he has skied past the statue of Jesus at issue in this case many times each winter,” the complaint states. “Mr. Cox also plans to continue his skiing on Big Mountain in the future, including this winter, when he will again have exposure to the Jesus statue at issue. As a regular skier on Big Mountain, the plaintiff Cox has frequent and unwanted contact and exposure to the Jesus statue when he is skiing on Big Mountain many times each winter. Mr. Cox perceives the statue of Jesus to be a patently religious display which he finds to be offensive on public land. Mr. Cox perceives the Jesus statue to be a conspicuously Roman Catholic monument.”
In an order filed this week, U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen said he would consider the testimony of Cox, which satisfies the legal requirement and gives the lawsuit standing. He will not, however, amend the complaint because it was submitted after the imposed deadline.
http://missoulian.com/news/local/skiing-atheist-joins-lawsuit-to-remove-whitefish-jesus-statue-case/article_96387f02-398d-11e2-b799-001a4bcf887a.html
I wonder how they altered their conduct because of the statue.
= new reply since forum marked as read
