Even in ‘God’s square mile,’ they can’t keep us off the beach on Sundays | Editorial
Closing the beach during the summer on Sunday mornings – to everyone, Christian or not – is almost surely illegal. (Alexandra Pais | For NJ Advance Media)Alexandra Pais | For NJ Advance Media)
**This post contains the full article posted by the Star Ledger Editorial Board on Monday September 11, 2023. The article can be found at the following link: https://www.nj.com/opinion/2023/09/even-in-gods-square-mile-they-cant-keep-us-off-the-beach-on-sundays-editorial.html **
Updated: Sep. 12, 2023, 9:44 a.m.| Published: Sep. 11, 2023, 7:15 a.m.
By Star-Ledger Editorial Board
It’s hard to imagine Jesus standing at the border of Ocean Grove, his hands raised to the sky, to announce that on Sundays from 9 a.m. to noon, you’re not allowed to be on the beach.
This Shore town, with quirky origins as a Christian seaside resort, recently erupted into a raging debate again over the separation of church and state – and while some might view putting a cross on its beach badges or building a $2 million cross-shaped pier as overboard, a local Christian group that owns virtually all the land here may be right that they have the freedom to do that. We’ll leave this to the experts in constitutional law.
But what these folks don’t have is the freedom to break the law and keep people off the beaches. So the state was right to put the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association on notice with a letter warning that tradition or not, closing the beach during the summer on Sunday mornings – to everyone, Christian or not – is almost surely illegal.
“The purpose of this warning is to advise you of the above potential violation, and to provide you with an opportunity to voluntarily take corrective actions and to engage in discussions with the DEP,” the letter from the state Department of Environmental Protection said.
Doug O’Malley, the director of Environment New Jersey, put it more bluntly: “This is a private institution that’s working to block public access, and clearly that is not allowed,” he told us. “You cannot do what Ocean Grove is doing. You cannot padlock the beach at the height of the summer Shore season.”
It doesn’t matter whether or not you get money or tax breaks from the state, he notes: Private owners cannot restrict the public from enjoying our natural wonders like waterfronts and beaches. Numerous court decisions have outlined this legal principle, known as the public trust doctrine, which says the government holds ownership over tidelands and shorelines in order to allow the public access. That means not only parallel access, as you walk along the shoreline from a neighboring town like Asbury Park, but also perpendicular access to the beach in Ocean Grove, O’Malley says.
And think about it: The same justification offered by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association for closing the beach on Sunday mornings – that this is to protect the joy of viewing its natural beauty from the boardwalk – could be used to block the public from our beaches in perpetuity.
Last week, Michael Badger, President of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, also argued they are being singled out on this for religious reasons. “There seems to be unequal treatment of the Camp Meeting Association in comparison to municipal and other private beaches that are more restrictive, and the animating sentiment for this enforcement appears to be from anti-religious, anti-Christian advocacy groups,” he told us. As an example, he cited a private owner in Point Pleasant that closes off beach access at 7 p.m.
Certainly, there may be other violators, depending on what you consider prime beach time – but no, this isn’t a matter of religion. As we said in January, when a judge ordered a private condo association in Edgewater to finally open a short stretch of waterfront to allow public access for the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway: “The public trust doctrine exists to ensure equal access for everybody to our natural resources. We don’t sell river or beach access to the highest bidder.”
Whether you’re a private beach club, the owner of a mansion overlooking the shoreline or a Christian group, padlocking beaches clearly does not square with the right of the public to enjoy the waterfront. And the dodge that Ocean Grove isn’t being exclusionary to some people, but keeping everybody out, doesn’t absolve them. “That’s arguably even worse,” as O’Malley says. “By excluding everyone, that doesn’t make it right.”
While we can’t claim authority on the spirit of Jesus, it certainly raises the question: Is this really what he would do?
