Public park land in Asbury Park on Main Street. 12/11/21 Paul Goldfinger photo. ©
Paul Goldfinger, editor Blogfinger.net.
Here is a menorah, a creche,and a choo-choo light display, but uh oh, the menorah is bigger!
According to the courts, there should be no religious displays on public property. Santa and his reindeer along with a Christmas tree with colored lights would probably be OK as they capture the “holiday spirit,” but the others are religious symbols.
Personally, this display is not offensive since I grew up in a small town which was wall to wall Christmas everywhere for about a month including in school.
And we never had a menorah lit up on pubic properties in Rutherford (NJ), a town with a church on many corners.
We did have a synagogue there, but I never heard a peep from our rabbi or members of the congregation about these issues. In fact it never occurred to me to want a menorah anywhere but in our home. We put ours in our window.
But I also believe in separation of “church and state,” along with freedom from religion on public properties such as parks, courts and schools. Yet there still is uncertainty about these issues, as in our recent piece about the Ten Commandments, so the matter remains slightly out of focus at this time.
In Ocean Grove there are questions. Some citizens have contacted Blogfinger to say, “If you don’t like it here you should leave,” but I assume that most Grovers don’t find that to be a responsible suggestion for a variety of reasons.