Sunday is not a fun day on this Jersey Shore.
New Jersey officials clashed with the local religious group that controls the resort town of Ocean Grove, which says you can’t go to the beach before noon on Lord’s Day.
Government officials say that clearly violates the separation of church and state, and sent a warning to the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a Methodist group that operates a beach south of Asbury Park, earlier this month:
“The purpose of this warning is to advise you of . . . potential violations and to give you an opportunity to voluntarily take corrective action,” said the letter from Robert H. Clark of the state Bureau of Coastal and Land Use Compliance and Enforcement.
The Christian Methodist group has an unusual agreement with Monmouth County municipalities that allows it to block beach access on Sunday mornings during the summer.
New Jersey state officials say religious groups are breaking the law by banning beachgoers before noon on Sundays during the summer. Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association in New Jersey’s Neptune Township, blocking beach access on a summer Sunday morning. Universal Images Group via Getty Images
But the state Department of Environmental Protection says the chains and padlocks that barred beachgoers on Sunday morning violated public access rules in the Beach Area Facilities Review Act, according to NJ.com.
The association’s president, Michael Badger, argued that the closure “improves the quality of religious and secular living experiences in Ocean Grove,” the outlet reported.
Community group Neptune United has been protesting the closure since Memorial Day, according to reports. Founder Shane Martins said beachgoers bypassed the blockade and confronted the defenders of the base Sunday. Police reportedly refused to remove both barricades and interceptors.
People sunbathe on beaches as thousands enjoy a summer day on New Jersey’s shores, including in Asbury Park and Ocean Grove.ZUMAPRESS.com
Beachgoers flock to the seaside towns of Bradley Beach, Ocean Grove and Asbury Park in New Jersey. Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
The camp meeting association has been at the center of controversy in the past, New Jersey Patch reports.
Earlier this year, criticism came after the group rebuilt a cross-shaped jetty near the beach.
In 2007, it refused to grant a permit to a lesbian couple to marry on the sidewalk. They sued the group and won.
Ocean Grove, a small town of about 3,000 residents, is known to some as “God’s Square Mile”.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
