Frankenmuth, Michigan is an unusual little town. The whole place is based around the Christmas industry and the population is heavily German and Lutheran. A few years ago, a local resident raised a stink about a cross on the city seal but decided not to file suit over it. Now Americans United has written to the city council about a huge cross on pubic property there.
Attorneys with Americans United today wrote to Peter Goodstein, legal counsel for the city of Frankenmuth, and advised him that the continued display of the 55-foot-tall cross in Cross Park runs afoul of the separation of church and state.
“Display of this cross in a public park at taxpayer expense sends the message that Frankenmuth is an officially Christian community,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “The city cannot have an official religion, and it can’t send that message.”
Americans United’s letter cites numerous court rulings holding that branches of government may not display religious symbols. It notes that the cross was dedicated during a 1976 ceremony where Christian clergy offered prayers. During the ceremony, then-Mayor Elmer Simon declared, “The simple cross of Christ assures us that life does not end with death….[F]rom our local heritage, this Christian symbol suggests that we are also a community under Christ.”
The city’s display of the cross, AU’s letter asserts, clearly amounts to a government endorsement of Christianity.
“By displaying a cross on public land, the City unlawfully endorses and promotes Christianity,” observes AU’s letter. “[T]he federal courts have repeatedly prohibited government bodies from displaying solitary crosses on public land.”
Sounds obvious enough. The questions is whether any resident of the city will agree to be a plaintiff in a legal challenge when the city council inevitably ignores the problem.
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Randomfactor
August 3, 2012 at 1:13 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“Cross Park.” Really?
Of course, the answer is easy–contract with a cellular company to change the cross into a cellphone tower, the kind that are tarted-up to look like evergreen “Christmas” trees.*
“Christmas Tree Park” would fit the town’s theme better (a cross is more Easter anyway) and would not be a violation.
*(In my town, a local cell-tower is done reverse to this–it looks like a 50-foot cross. But it’s on a churchyard.)
jeremydiamond
August 3, 2012 at 1:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I think that’s a little more serious than a first amendment issue.
Michael Heath
August 3, 2012 at 1:34 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
IIRC, Frankenmuth is the most visited community, by tourists, in Michigan. It has two large restaurants across the street from each other, both specializing in chicken dinners served family style. A lot of the shops in its business district are retail outlets marketing Christmas-themed knick-knacks consistent with what Ed noted.
umlud
August 3, 2012 at 1:40 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
And then there’s this over at MLive.com
http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2012/08/svsu_law_instructor_attorney_c.html
fastlane
August 3, 2012 at 1:55 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
jeremy @2: I noticed that too. A typo of epic (or not so much) proportions….
Sorry, infantile response is done. Back to your regularly scheduled discussion.
eric
August 3, 2012 at 2:54 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@1 – yeah, given the town’s main industry it seems like it should be trivially easy for them to pick a semi-religious symbol that passes constitutional muster. A christmas tree. Even a star ornament. They seem to have intentionally chosen the path of most resistance.
Modusoperandi
August 3, 2012 at 4:32 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Michael Heath “It has two large restaurants across the street from each other…”
Oooo. Just like Westside Story.
“…both specializing in chicken dinners served family style.”
A rooster, a few hens and a bunch of egggs, all on the same plate.
“A lot of the shops in its business district are retail outlets marketing Christmas-themed knick-knacks consistent with what Ed noted.”
Oh, come on, Michael Heath! It’s not a vacation unless you drive out of your way to buy the same crap you could get at without leaving your hometown!
interrobang
August 4, 2012 at 2:52 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It’s not a vacation unless you drive out of your way to buy the same crap you could get at without leaving your hometown!
Actually, Bronner’s (the store in question that sells all the Christmas knick-knacks) does a land-office business in custom-made hand-blown glass ornaments of the type you really can’t get much of anywhere else anymore, since mainstream stores have basically decided that everyone really must want identical-to-everything-else plastic crap.
I feel weird defending Bronner’s, given how kitschy and obnoxiously Christian it can be, but fuck. Credit where credit is due. I live three or so hours on the other side of the border from Frankenmuth and have been there a bunch of times. They have a really great glockenspiel clock, as I recall.
“Family style” dining refers to the fact that if you go to Zehnder’s, the food comes in serving dishes which you then dish out for yourself, much the way one does at home. My favourite Chinese place specialises in family-style dishes.
That said, AU is right on the money here.
Modusoperandi
August 4, 2012 at 5:15 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
interrobang “I feel weird defending Bronner’s, given how kitschy and obnoxiously Christian it can be, but fuck.”
No. Go right ahead. Original handmade stuff is far superior to could-get-it-anywhere stuff.