FRANKENMUTH — The city of Frankenmuth, home to the Bavarian Inn and Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, is enlisting the help of an Ann Arbor law firm to defend a 55-foot steel cross in a public park from a secularist group’s objections.

The American Bicentennial Cross, which stands in the city’s Cross Park, is the target of a threatened lawsuit by the atheist-leaning organization, which wants the monument taken down. The Thomas More Law Center, a nonprofit firm that specializes in religious freedom cases, responded to the Americans United for Separation of Church and State’s demand on Oct. 8.

The cross was erected as a part of Frankenmuth’s celebrations of the American Revolution Bicentennial in 1976. It was constructed and erected with private funds raised by the Frankenmuth Area Bicentennial Commission.

According to the Thomas More Law Center, the cross was erected not only to memorialize the sacrifices made by our Founding Fathers in 1776, but also to memorialize Frankenmuth’s unique history and the sacrifices made by the original 15 settlers who arrived in the Frankenmuth area in 1845.

“These settlers left their homes in the province of Middle Franconia, Bavaria to establish a religious community for the conversion of the Chippewa Indians who lived in the area,” it said in a release.

Americans United has threatened to sue if a local resident volunteers to be the plaintiff. The secularist organization has been involved in many previous lawsuits involving holiday displays and crosses of similar nature across the country.