Visitors to the world's largest natural bridge have suffered no personal injury by being asked not to walk underneath the 290-foot-high, 275-foot-wide Rainbow Bridge, a federal appeals court has ruled.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week upheld a Utah federal judge's dismissal of a 2000 lawsuit challenging the National Park Service policy that asks people to avoid walking under or near the sandstone bridge out of respect for the Navajo and Hopi religions, which consider the monument sacred.
The suit was originally brought by the Phoenix-based Natural Bridge and Arch Society, but pursued on appeal by two individuals also named in the original complaint, Evelyn Johnson and Earl DeWaal. On appeal, the two alleged they were forced to leave the area and threatened with arrest on more than one occasion.
The 10th Circuit determined that Johnson and DeWaal lacked sufficient standing to challenge the policy, which they claim unconstitutionally endorses American Indian religion.
Because the appeals court upheld the dismissal on a standing issue, it did not consider Johnson and DeWaal's argument that the policy violates the First Amendment-mandated provision of separation of church and state.
U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins did consider the merits of that argument, however, and determined that the Park Service's request does not "coerce visitors into practicing the Native American religion associated with the belief about not walking under the Rainbow God."
In his April 2002 dismissal of the lawsuit, Jenkins noted the importance of the national monument on a variety of American Indian tribes, and encouraged respect for such sites.
"This court believes that promoting an understanding of neighboring cultures is an appropriate secular purpose which allows the general public the opportunity to enhance their individual and collective perspective," the judge wrote.
The 10th Circuit noted the case's similarity to one brought against Wyoming's Bear Lodge National Monument, where climbers are asked to "voluntarily refrain from climbing during the month of June when American Indians engage in The Sun Dance and other ceremonies."
E-mail: awelling@desnews.com