Firemen’s Park, Ocean Grove. Paul Goldfinger photo. Dec. 2022.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net
For many, this creche simply means Christmas. People tend to like it whether they are “religious” or not.
The creche tells the central story of Christmas, so some will view it as holy.
Others will view it as religious art, as seen in paintings and sculptures, often in museums and churches.
But should it be displayed in Firemen’s Park? They don’t even have one in Auditorium Square Park.
Anyone who wants a creche on their own property may have one on their own front yard, and I assume that is true in Ocean Grove where all front yards are owned by the CMA, and it is true on church properties.
Some complain that religious scenes like this or other religious displays such as menorahs do not belong in public spaces, ie separation of church and state. A creche would not be found in public schools, for example, although when I was in high school we had a live nativity on stage in the auditorium , nor would a creche be on that beautiful lawn in front of Asbury Park High School or in front of Neptune High School .
The separation of church and state would require that no religious displays be placed on public property, and Firemen’s Park, although owned by the CMA, functions as a public space where religious art should not be shown because it suggests a religious preference. And the park is on the town’s ROSI list where those spaces that receive Green Acres tax advantages and Neptune tax relief must pay attention to such limitations.
But in Ocean Grove, to complicate the topic regarding avoiding religious preferences, only Christian themes are shown publicly. Some will say that the nativity in the park is OK because this town was founded as a Christian community and is historically accurate.
This is not the first time I have heard that sentiment about Christian displays being historic in the Grove, but it is not exactly true. This park, for example, began its life honoring a person, and it had a fountain in the middle. We don’t know when the creche first appeared, but change is part of OG history and will be inevitable.
But in Ocean Township their Municipal Building ‘s front yard on Monmouth Road has a creche and a menorah, the latter also having a religious basis representing a miracle. Both would generally be considered inappropriate, but individual towns could decide otherwise, however they would have to allow other displays like the Hari Krishnas dancing on their lawn, or a group of shofar blowers playing a chorus of religious blasts together as occurred a number of years ago in front of the Youth Temple in OG, or letting 7th Day Adventists set up at the Mother Ship and hand out their literature.
I asked one resident who is not Christian how he felt about the creche. He said that it didn’t bother him, but he would prefer it weren’t there. Another said that religious symbols should not be present in public spaces because they might make visitors feel uncomfortable. We live in a culture where no one should be uncomfortable, and any complaints must be corrected.
Another person said that this scene is less offensive because it remains for only about two months, while the beach cross is present all year long and thus might be more objectionable..
We live across from the park, and many people do stop at the creche. We don’t know what they are thinking.
We met a man tonight in the park who said that this scene is a part of Christmas in the Grove, and it didn’t disturb him. He is renting here now and has stayed in the Grove on many occasions in the past. He said that those who chose to live here knew what to expect, so they should have no complaint. Some say ‘”If you don’t like it, then leave!” We heard that in the Blogfinger comments section a few times.
If something happens which would require the firemen to remove the creche, then while they are at it, they can remove the concentration camp spiked iron fence, sharp and dangerous needle brambles , and the chain- locked gate since such an image doesn’t fit with peace on earth symbols of Christmas.
Next month the OGHOA is planning a ” forum” to discuss the differences between the CMA and the “non-religious group” in town. But how will this “forum” begin and end? The agenda, if they have one, will be troublesome to formulate. And the definition of “non-religious group” might be debated for an hour.
If the creche is any indication of the complexity of such controversies, then it would be best if the Groaners abandon their troublesome and ill-conceived conference. They will have no useful idea what to say, and why take a chance on an anti-religious backlash event in a town where religion is well tolerated and part of its history?
RENE´E FLEMING AND RUFUS WAINWRIGHT. “In the Bleak Midwinter”
“What can I give him?Poor as I amIf I were a shepherdI would give a lambIf I were a wise manI would do my partBut what I can I give himGive him my heartGive him my heart”
From Neptune United web site:
“Feeling Excluded?”
“Featuring religious displays in courthouses, public schools, state capitols, or public parks transforms the spaces that are supposed to bring us together into spaces that are divisive and make some members of the community feel excluded.” –
Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
This post was to be about the creche in Firemen’s Park, but some of these comments are about paying taxes on residential lots.
This sort of changing the subject sometimes happens on Blogfinger, and if the discussion is interesting enough, we will allow it.
The OGCMA is the Fee Simple owner of the land that makes up Ocean Grove. In other words, they own the land outright without any limitations or restrictions while people who have bought a lot, hold a lease that is restricted by the OGCMA.
In 1930, the NJ Court ruled that an OG lease was “like ownership” because it was held in perpetuity, meaning never changing or indefinitely, but the court did not and could not rule our leases as Fee Simple ownership.
What is troubling are those words, held in perpetuity, establishes that Neptune has violated both Federal and State laws when creating the fraudulent “overlay zone” in the first two blocks which permitted them to create the fraudulent “area in need of Redevelopment.”
Since the couts have ruled that every leasehold in OG is held in perpetuity and since the courts have ruled that all like lots in a development must be zoned equally and since all the nonconforming lots in OG fall within the OGCMA then the Neptune has knowingly violated federal and State laws by refusing through discrimination to protect the residents of OG with legal zoning by restricting all of OG as single family as required by law.
That is what Neptune United should be fighting. The violation of zoning laws that were put into place by Neptune to endanger the residents of OG.
“The leaseholders of property from the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association must pay the taxes on the property so held, according to a decision reached this morning by the Monmouth County Board of Taxation…Samuel A. Patterson, counsel for the association, argued that the leaseholders paid no tax, but only a rental of $10.50 yearly under leases. The association should not have to pay taxes, he argued on the leased property, since the only equity it had from this property was the rental.
“The board agreed with this view and will proceed to tax the lot holders.”—New York Times (22 May 1908)
“Featuring religious displays in courthouses, public schools, state capitols, or public parks transforms the spaces that are supposed to bring us together into spaces that are divisive and make some members of the community feel excluded.” – Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Obtained from the NU web site. 12/7/22
David H. Fox
Are you saying the Neptune Tax Assessor is lying?
My information comes directly from the Ocean Grove Tax Duplicate which is under the jurisdiction of the Neptune Tax Assessor, and is recorded in the County Deed Vault. You can look it up yourself.
What you are telling the Good Citizens of Ocean Grove is a bunch of nonsense.
I would have to take issue with the statement that if you pay local real estate tax, you own the land. This was certainly not the case for the 41 cooperative buildings in my Flushing, NY, neighborhood built in the 1950s.
To reduce costs, the land was leased for 99 year at a fixed annual fee and cost of purchase. Eventually, the wonders of inflation rendered the cost minimal and most of the buildings have purchased their ground leases. When the expiration of the ground lease approaches, banks may be unwilling to provide mortgages to the corporations and persons seeking to buy apartments. We always had to pay taxes to NYC under the ground lease.
The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association DOES NOT own all the land in Ocean Grove, they would like you to think so.
The fact is they did in 1869, however, over the years they sold most of it.
If you pay taxes to Neptune Township on the land and house you live in, then you own the land and the building you live in, and not the CMA.
A friend of mine moved from Asbury Park to Ocean Grove’s Main Avenue in 2000. In December, he rang up the Camp Meeting to request a menorah be placed in the park alongside the nativity scene. He was told, as Mr. Chambers notes, that they own all the land in that park and they would do as they pleased.
Christmas events were mentioned in the OGT of 18 Dec. 1936 as taking place in Alday, now Firemen’s Park. No manger scene is particularly mentioned. Whether similar events took place earlier is undetermined.
What many people fail to understand is that the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting is the owner of all the land within Ocean Grove, and even though many perceive the parks as public, they are in fact owned by the OGCMA and therefore have the right to put up anything they choose.