Free Republic

The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association is defending the design of a new pier it plans to build in the Jersey Shore community, despite backlash from some residents who say the structure too closely resembles a Christian cross on a public beach. The religious nonprofit organization’s chief operating officer, Jamie Jackson, said the group makes “no apology for that we love the fact that it looks like a cross.” When asked if Jackson’s statement meant the beach pier was, in fact, intentionally designed to look like a Christian cross, Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association President Michael Badger said only, “it...

A beach pier in Ocean Grove destroyed during Superstorm Sandy is being rebuilt by a local religious organization, but the new shape has some residents concerned it too closely resembles a cross. Members of the small seaside town’s LGTBQ+ community and allies are saying the cross crosses a line, but many are afraid to voice their grievances with the Camp Meeting Association, said Douglas Grote, a local resident and retired Presbyterian pastor. The cross-shaped pier feels like “Christian bullying,” said Grote, who has penned letters to local and state officials asking for intervention. “I am so deeply concerned,” he said....

In his speech a few minutes ago, our President said You look out over the horizon, you can count on the fact that you won’t be alone. The President did not look 5 blocks to the south. There, just past the Casino, lies Ocean Grove, with a still shattered boardwalk. FEMA will not provide funds to restore it, unlike for every town with a boardwalk to the north and south, will not fix. Why? Because the religious Camp Meeting Association owns all of the land within Ocean Grove. You can own your house, with a 99 year lease of...

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (AP) | A church group that owns beachfront property discriminated against a lesbian couple by not allowing them to rent the locale for their civil union ceremony, a New Jersey department ruled Monday in a case that has become a flash point in the nation's gay rights battle. The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights said its investigation found that the refusal of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association to rent the oceanfront spot to the couple for their ceremony in March 2007 violated the public accommodation provisions of the state's Law Against Discrimination.

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...

Press Releases New Jersey Attacks Religious Freedom by Revoking Methodist Camp Tax Exemption for Not Hosting Same-Sex Union Contact: Loralei Coyle (202) 682-4131   “Contrary to New Jersey's assertions, the Ocean Grove Camp Ground Association has not limited the use of its boardwalk pavilion to any person, rather it has prohibited some BEHAVIOR, according to the principles of the United Methodist Church.” —Mark Tooley, Executive Director UMAction   ________________________ Washington, DC—Ocean Grove Camp Ground in New Jersey was founded and has been privately owned by a Methodist organization since the 19th century. New Jersey is now threatening its tax-exempt status...

A Methodist ministry at the Jersey Shore has sued the state, accusing the Attorney General's Office of trying to compel the group to allow gay civil union ceremonies in its boardwalk pavilion. The federal lawsuit, filed on Saturday by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, is the latest salvo in a case that's drawing statewide attention from gay rights advocates and religious conservatives. "Religious groups have the right to make their own decisions without government interference," Brian W. Raum, lawyer for the association, said in a statement Monday. "The government can't force a private Christian organization to use its property...