SANTA CLARA — A local atheist and a national group that advocates for the strict separation of church and state have sued the city to remove a large, white Christian cross at a public park where an 18th century Spanish Catholic mission once stood.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the Ninth U.S. District Court, resident Andrew Defaria and the Freedom From Religion Foundation argue that the 14-foot granite cross is a “blatant religious symbol” that violates the First Amendment of the Constitution and California law.

“As a lifelong atheist and member of FFRF, and also a member of the San Jose Atheists, I believe firmly in the separation of church and state,” Defaria wrote Thursday in an email to this newspaper.

The cross stands at Memorial Cross Park, a half-acre plot of grass and Spanish colonial landscaping, at the busy intersection of Martin Avenue and De La Cruz Boulevard. A local Lions Club donated the cross in 1953 to mark the site of Santa Clara’s second Franciscan mission, which stood there from 1777 to 1784.

Santa Clara Lions Club president Ginger Stasi, who was not a member at the time, said the cross is a “historic marker” and should stay.

“No one is being forced on their knees to pray there,” she said. “Honestly, there are so many other problems in the world that need fixing.”

Based in Wisconsin, Freedom From Religion said it first complained about the cross to Santa Clara officials in 2012. Co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor said in a statement that the group and was led to believe officials in the so-called “Mission City” would remove the marker.

“It should not be necessary to sue over such an obvious and blatant establishment of religion,” Gaylor said. “We waited four years for the city to act in good faith.”

The lawsuits names the city, Mayor Lisa Gillmor and council members as defendants. Gillmor said on Thursday that she hadn’t heard about the lawsuit and doubted that anyone else at city hall had either.

“We will take it seriously,” the mayor said. “We’ll address it and respond as soon as we can.”

Contact Joe Rodriguez at jrodriguez@bayareanewsgroup.com or 408-920-5767. Twitter.com/JoeRodMercury.