Saturday, October 24, 1998

Christ statue in park causes furor

By PETER MALLER

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MARSHFIELD, Wis. -- Motel owner Clarence Reinders loathes the sight of a 17-foot statue of Jesus Christ erected in 1959 at a city park in this central Wisconsin community.

An atheist most of his life, he kept his feelings private until his wife, a devout Roman Catholic, died last winter. Then Reinders, who spent six years of his youth studying to become a priest, sued the city to have the figure removed from Praschak Wayside Park, a campground and picnic area bordering the city's main thoroughfare.

Despite knowing that his neighbors in this church-going city likely would turn against him, he filed suit in federal court, alleging that Marshfield had violated the constitutional separation of church and state.

Since that suit was filed in April, the case has generated strong emotions that have reverberated beyond Marshfield. And with a judge set to rule on the case as early as next month, two national organizations with sharply differing perspectives have joined the debate.

The fact that the issue now has such a high profile is disturbing some residents. They're worried that life in Marshfield, an otherwise harmonious community best-known for the Marshfield Clinic, could turn ugly if dogmatic outsiders use this matter to prove a point.

"I don't want to see our town become a battleground for extremists on both sides," said Jeff Klieman, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin- Marathon County and member of a group that wants to keep the statue in place. "We have to live here."

On one side is the American Center for Law and Justice, a law firm founded by television evangelist Pat Robertson. The city asked the group for legal assistance after the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national organization that opposes use of public land for religious purposes, joined Reinders' lawsuit.

The statue of Christ was donated to the city nearly four decades ago by the local Knights of Columbus. For the most part, the statue hasn't generated much fuss in this community of about 20,000.

But Reinders, 67 and the son of a church organist, says the figure of Christ bothers him so much that he uses alternative routes to travel through Marshfield to avoid passing it.

"There are all kinds of churches in this town full of religious statues," he said. "Why they must have this statue in a public park, I do not know."

Reinders' lawsuit has angered civic leaders and many residents. Viewing it as an affront to the community, supporters formed a private foundation to purchase the statue and a slice of land surrounding it from the city.

"After all these years, I can hardly believe this whole business came up," said Leona Bersell, an 85-year-old resident who donated money to the foundation. "I think it's just fine where it is."

Even a local rabbi says he has no problem with the statue. "When it was erected in the 1950s, communities all over the United States were less aware of church vs. state issues," said Rabbi E. Daniel Danson, of Mount Sinai Congregation in nearby Wausau. "I think we need to view the Marshfield statue in that historic context. But if a community today wanted to put up a religious figure in a park, I'm sure the Jewish community would very much oppose it."

Seated behind a cluttered desk at Hillcrest Motor Lodge, which he has operated here for almost 19 years, Reinders looks the part of the successful businessman that he is. Wearing black pants, suspenders and a white shirt open at the collar, he talked about his disdain for all religions.

"I was brainwashed by the church until I was 22 years old -- and I've spent the rest of my life trying to get over it," said Reinders, a member of Freedom From Religion since 1985. "The church is a cult and it's a fraud. It controls people's minds. It promotes hatred, war and killing. It stirs up people's worst instincts."

But Reinders is clearly in the minority in Marshfield. The foundation set up to preserve the statue raised more than $60,000 in the first month it collected donations. The newly formed Henry A. Praschak Memorial Fund bought the property in the park with community donations for $21,560 in July.

That won't wash with the Freedom From Religion organization.

"You just can't take a bit out of city property," Executive Director Anne Nicol Gaylor said. "It does not change the perception that the statue is part of the park."

Groups such as the American Center for Law and Justice are made up of Bible-thumping Christians who want their brand of religion to become woven into the fabric of every community in America, she said.

"Their agenda is to spread Christianity," she said. "What they're really interested in doing is starting a religious theocracy. They'd have religious statues all over the country if they could."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)