First Amendment controversy: Jersey Shore access blocked by Christian group on Sundays

New Jersey officials are in a dispute with a religious organization that oversees the resort town of Ocean Grove, which wants to restrict beachgoers before noon on Sundays.

State officials say the restriction is a violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which effectively separates church and state.

As such, they have directed the Methodist organization that controls the beach just south of Asbury Park, Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, (OCGMA) to remove the restriction.

Ocean Grove is a small town of approximately 3,000 residents, and is known in the area to locals as “God’s Square Mile.”

“The purpose of this warning is to advise you of the … potential violation and to provide you with an opportunity to voluntarily take corrective actions,” said a letter from Robert H. Clark of the state Bureau of Coastal and Land Use Compliance and Enforcement.

The controversy arises from an unusual agreement Monmouth County township has with the Christian Methodist group has, giving it the authority to restrict beach access during the summertime, but only on Sunday mornings.

While it can sometimes be a constitutional violation of the Contracts Clause for government to interfere with ongoing contracts, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection says that restricting beach-goers on Sunday mornings violate the public-access rules in the Coastal Area Facilities Review Act, according to NJ.com.

Michael Badger, the OCGMA president countered with the argument that keeping the beach closed Sunday morning, “enhances religious and secular quality of life experiences in Ocean Grove,” NJ.com reported. 

Another community group, Neptune United, which is not religious has been actively opposing the Sunday morning beach closure since Memorial Day, according to local media reports.

Shane Martins, founder of Neptune United, said beach goers who try to exercise the right to use the beach on Sunday morning have been harassed by advocates of the Sunday policy, and has complained that local law enforcement have done little to nothing to help them.

This not the first controversy surrounding the OCGMA this year, the New Jersey Patch reported. Earlier this year, some residents complained that the organization rebuilt a cross-shaped pier at the shoreline.

The group lost a lawsuit in 2007 after it declined to issue a lesbian couple a permit to get married on the boardwalk.