Christian group temporarily opens beaches it closed Sunday morning as court battle unfolds

OCEAN GROVE, N.J. (AP) — For the first time in generations, beachgoers were on the sand in a coastal New Jersey community on the Sunday morning before Memorial Day as a Christian religious group battles the state to due to the regular closure of the beaches on Sunday. services.

The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a Methodist group that established a Christian seaside retreat on the Jersey Shore in 1869, said it had closed its beaches on Sunday mornings during church services at Ocean Grove for more than a century and a half before the State Department. of Environmental Protection accused the group of violating state beach access laws.

The department threatened fines of $25,000 per day.

The association unsuccessfully sought an emergency ruling in its favor, then said last week it would temporarily allow beachgoers access on Sunday this holiday weekend while it continues to fight the lawsuit.

“For 155 years, we have closed our beach on Sunday mornings to honor God – a vital pillar of this community since the founding of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association,” the group’s statement said. “We are challenging this order to preserve our property rights and religious freedom. »

The association is a Christian nonprofit entity that owns the beach and land beneath all homes in Ocean Grove under a charter granted to it by the state in 1870. In court documents, she claims that what the state is trying to do violates U.S. constitutional amendments regarding freedom of religion, taking of private property, and due process and equal protection.

The association says public access was restricted for a total of 45 hours between each Memorial Day and Labor Day, a policy it called “entirely reasonable.”

E. VanderBerg, an Ocean Grove resident who had just attended a worship service at the association, said Sunday she was happy to see families on the sand and to know that “people have a choice “.

“People can worship. People can be with their families. People can enjoy God’s creation however they want on Sunday morning,” she said.

Ocean Grove is part of Neptune Township, just north of Asbury Park and about 60 miles south of New York City. The association owns all of the land in the community called “God’s Square Mile at the Jersey Shore,” including the beaches, which it kept closed until noon on Sundays while it held services religious.