Sunday is not a fun day at this Jersey shore beach.
New Jersey officials are in a standoff with a local religious group that controls the resort town of Ocean Grove, which says you won’t go to the beach before noon on Lord’s Day.
Government officials say this is a clear violation of the separation of church and state, and sent a warning to the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a Methodist group that operates the beach just south of Asbury Park, earlier in this month:
“The purpose of this warning is to inform you about . . . possible violation and provide you with the opportunity to voluntarily take corrective action,” said the letter from Robert H. Clark of the state Office of Land and Coastal Use and Enforcement.
The Methodist Christian group has an unusual agreement with Monmouth County Township that allows it to restrict beach access on Sunday mornings during the summer.
New Jersey state officials say a religious group is breaking the law by banning beach access before noon on Sundays during the summer.Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
But the state Department of Environmental Protection says the chains and locks preventing beach visitors on Sunday mornings violate public access rules of the Coastal Area Facilities Review Act, according to NJ.com.
Association president Michael Badger argued that the closure “enhances the quality of religious and secular life in Ocean Grove,” the outlet reported.
The community group Neptune United has reportedly been protesting the closures since Memorial Day. Founder Shane Martins said beachgoers are circumventing restrictions and facing Sunday policy advocates. Police reportedly refrain from removing both barriers and pedestrians.
People sunbathe on the beach as thousands enjoy a summer day on the New Jersey shores, including in Asbury Park and Ocean Grove.ZUMAPRESS.com
Beachgoers flock to the New Jersey beach towns of Bradley Beach, Ocean Grove and Asbury Park. Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
The association of camp meetings has been the center of controversy in the past, the New Jersey Patch reported.
Earlier this year, criticism came after the group rebuilt a cross-shaped pier near the waterfront.
In 2007, he refused to grant a lesbian couple permission to marry on the boardwalk. They sued the group and won.
Ocean Grove, a small town of about 3,000 people, is known by some as “God’s Square Mile.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn