U.S. Christian Camp Loses Tax-Exempt Status over Same-Sex Civil-Union Ceremony

LifeSiteNews.com ^ | September 19, 2007 | John Jalsevac

[monomaniac]

U.S. Christian Camp Loses Tax-Exempt Status over Same-Sex Civil-Union Ceremony

By John Jalsevac

OCEAN GROVE, N.J., September 19, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced on Monday that it was stripping the Methodist Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association of its tax-exempt status for part of its property. The Methodist camp made the news earlier this year after it refused, for religious reasons, to allow a lesbian couple to hold a "civil-union" ceremony at a pavilion on the camp's property.

The pavilion, said Scott Hoffman, the camp's chief administrative officer to LifeSiteNews, "is a facility we have used exclusively for our camp meeting mission and worship celebrations since 1869."

Until recently the camp held tax-exempt status on its entire boardwalk property under a New Jersey program that gives tax-breaks to organizations that open up their property to the general public.

In June, however, Harriet Bernstein and Luisa Pester, a lesbian, filed a complaint with the state attorney general's office on the basis of sexual orientation discrimination, after Ocean Grove refused to allow them to hold their "civil-union" ceremony at the camp's pavilion. A second lesbian couple has also sued Ocean Grove. New Jersey's anti-discrimination laws currently forbid those who "offer goods, services, and facilities to the general public" from "directly or indirectly denying or withholding any accommodation, service, benefit, or privilege to an individual" on the basis of sexual orientation.

"It is clear that the pavilion is not open to all persons on an equal basis," DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson, wrote to the camp on Monday, in announcing the DEP's decision to revoke the camp's tax-exempt status.

"When people hear the words 'open space,' we want them to think not just of open air and land, but that it is open to all people," Jackson continued. "And when the public subsidizes it with tax breaks, it goes with the expectation that it is not going to be parsed out, whether it be by activity or any particular beliefs."

Currently, however, there is some confusion over just how much of the camp's property no longer has tax-exempt status. As such, one homosexual advocacy group is threatening to appeal the DEP's decision, saying that it doesn't go far enough, reports the AP. "We're looking for a bigger victory here," said Steve Goldstein, the chairman of Garden State Equality. "We have the symbolic victory of the state telling Ocean Grove they're wrong, but there is a bigger victory to be had by having the entire tax-exemption removed. We're happy, but there's a lot more happiness to be had." 

According to the Neptune Township tax assessor, the revocation of the tax-exempt status on the pavilion will only cost Ocean Grove about $175/year, although Scott Hoffman has reportedly issued a statement claiming that the DEP's decision in fact appears to revoke tax-exempt status for "over 99 percent of the land." Hoffman said that Ocean Grove's lawyers are currently reviewing the decision.

In August, the Christian camp preempted the complaints currently pending against it by itself suing New Jersey state officials. According to the Alliance Defense fund, which is representing the camp, the attorney general's office is violating First Amendment protections by investigating Ocean Grove. "Religious groups have the right to make their own decisions without government interference," said Brian Raum, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund. "The government can't force a private Christian organization to use its property in a way that would violate its own religious beliefs."

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Methodist Camp Meeting Association Sues New Jersey for Civil Union Investigation
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/aug/07081501.html

Lesbian Couple Files Complaint against Church for Refusing Civil Union Ceremony
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jul/07071011.html

[gidget7]

Why don’t we just close all public parks. Families can’t use them anyway. And when churches have one, they are subjected to constant assault by people who hate the faith, yet covet acceptance.

[TheBattman]

WOW! Methodists standing up on the right side of a moral issue????!!!! I am impressed. And now they get to loose part of their tax-exempt status for pursuing their freedom of religion.

[keepitreal]

True, between the parks filled with bums and the others used for gay cruising, there aren’t any parks for families to use.

[IronJack]

The power to tax is the power to destroy.

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)

Excuse me? When does the Department of Environmental Protection have anything to say about tax status, churches or religious freedoms???? This is sheer insanity.

[gdc314]

Until recently the camp held tax-exempt status on its entire boardwalk property under a New Jersey program that gives tax-breaks to organizations that open up their property to the general public.

Looks like the only solution is to close the park to the public and pay the taxes because they basically turned it over to the city by accepting the break. (Not that anyone really owns property anyway)

[Dilbert San Diego]

We live in the age of stupidity in a lot of ways.

Also, these homosexual activists, on the marriage issue or civil union issues, have been constantly saying that they do not want to force the issues on churches. They constantly say that no religious organization would be compelled to recognize homosexual unions or perform such ceremonies if they conflict with their religious beliefs.

And yet here, you have some pissed off lesbians, who have targeted this place run by a religious group, and filed suit to get their tax-exempt status revoked. What possible reason do they have to do that? These gay activists have the entire state of New Jersey to have their ceremony, and they purposely pick on religious property to have their ceremony. Something doesn’t add up here, does it?

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Hey, it is new jersey after all.Who in their right mind would live there?

[Robert A Cook PE]

What reason?

Active, all-encompassing, pure hatred of Christians (in particular) and the traditional (formerly American) lifestyle of religion and capitalism (in general)

[uptoolate]

For a Christian perspective to what’s really going on behind the scenes, C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters” are a good start in the learning process.

http://www.cslewisclassics.com/books/screwtape_letters-excerpt.html

[CanaGuy]

This is the kind of action I expected for Canada, where same-sex insanity was rammed down our throats while the media continues to use the Church for target practice.

They’re not fooling us much anymore, the sodomist collective wants to eliminate THE major roadblock on its path to a “sinless” lifestyle.

[MHGinTN]

Hatred of Christians is the out-flow from a rebellion to the notion that God is sovereign in His universe. One can almost see the defiant secular fists raised and shaking at heaven.

[JerseyHighlander]

First off, DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson is an utterly incompetent political hack. Her failures are so numerous and almost all in plain public view, she has no support outside of the most strident mentally ill environmentalists in the state.

Secondly, the state still can’t revoke the tax exempt status permanently. The Methodist camp still owns it and still specifically uses it for religious services.

I truly hope the Methodist camp’s lawsuit against the state and state officials is taken to the Federal level, this blatant attack on the First Amendment is too disgusting to let stand. Every state and local official who backed this totalitarian interpretation of unconstitutional regulations should be rounded up and arrested by Chris Christie for Federal civil rights violations.

Christie could get open and shut case convictions against the deviant bureaucrats who let this proceed.

[WOSG]

A good example of the bad things that can happen due to anti-discrimination laws wrt sexual orientation.

This church’s tax-exempt status shouldnt be held hostage to such a lawsuit or requirement.

[gakrak]

Those who defy God’s Laws are headed to the lake of fire. There worldly “victories” will be judged by the Lord. Amen.

[goldstategop]

This is where non-discrimination laws have gone. The state can wield them as a club against Christianity and force it to legitimate morally objectionable practices under pain of losing its tax-exempt status. The power to tax is literally the power to destroy. So the State Of New Jersey has enlisted its tax authorities on one side of the culture war.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[goldstategop]

I would say this involves government entanglement that violates the Lemon test in that it inhibits or is hostile to freedom of religion. As such what New Jersey is doing is unconstitutional for it is punishing a Christian body for remaining faithful to its beliefs and values in contravention of and in defiance to the received secular ethos.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[goldstategop]

They do want to do that. The notion that all they want is "marriage equality" or a variation thereof is really a cover for a darker agenda. The last thing the homosexual lobby wants to do is embrace a live and let live approach. What they want to do is force Christians to accept, with the power of the state on their side, a morally repugnant lifestyle on an equal plane with that of the Christian way of life. Obviously, no religious believer is going to accept such a proposition. The solution obviously would be for Christians to refuse all government aid but that's not very practical because government is involved in all life activities from education to issuing drivers licenses, marriage certificates and death certificates. We're looking at a future where traditional believers are no longer able to believe in God as they wish.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[goldstategop]

More to the point, they want to eliminate the Judeo-Christian foundations of our society, get rid of the family and have the state run everything. These people on the Left are at their core, lifestyle police. The word "freedom" is not in their vocabulary at all. You should just be aware of where they're coming from and to recognize the true agenda they seek to impose upon our society.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus