Our take: City officials in Branson, Mo., have approved plans to erect a 200 foot cross atop the city's Bear Mountain. The project is expected to be completed in 2013 and will cost $5 million. The cross will be privately funded through donations and the developer's own funds and will feature elevators that will take Branson's 8 million annual visitors up and down the structure, hopes developer Kerry Brown.

Public symbols of Christianity are under attack around the nation, but not in Branson, Mo., where county officials have approved a 200-foot cross that will rival American icons like the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate Bridge, according to its developer.

Kerry Brown said the God-given vision of the Branson Cross came to his father Dean two decades ago after he bought land atop Bear Mountain near the intersections of U.S. highways 160 and 65 in Branson, tourist mecca famous for its country music venues.

It started as a vision with a 7-foot-tall cross just so people would have a place to go and meditate with the Lord, Brown told FoxNews.com. As time went on, additional portions of the vision came to him and ultimately it was to build the largest cross that anyone has ever seen.

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