Sign prominently positioned as one enters Auditorium Park on Pitman Ave. Blogfinger photo. © 6/27/21.
This misleading booklet should not be named “Ocean Grove Summer Program Guide” because it almost entirely contains just CMA religious program events. When we wanted to have the Town-Wide Yard Sale included, they refused.
This is a question of accurate use of language. Most would agree that Ocean Grove is the census-approved name for our part of Neptune Township. National Geographic and the two major OG history books call it “Ocean Grove.” But now we see Ocean Grove referred to as “Ocean Grove: Your Christian Seaside Resort.”
The concern here is that this town where Grovers live and others visit is known by almost everyone as “Ocean Grove,” so to use the slogan “Your Christian Seaside Resort” interchangeably with “Ocean Grove” is false advertising. And this meme has caught on with the press which constantly refers to the Camp Meeting Association as “Ocean Grove.”
This is from Michael Badger’s “Welcome to Ocean Grove” in the booklet called “Ocean Grove Program Guide.” In his page 1 welcome he says, “Cast off your doldrums and come to the family-friendly Christian beach that is Ocean Grove.”
After all, the activities of the CMA are only one part of who lives here and what goes on here. OG is a community with a variety of religions and lifestyles having nothing to do with that “Christian Seaside Resort.”
This is not the first time that we have pointed out that this slogan gives the impression to outsiders that our town is still a religious enclave, which it is not. This purposeful confusion of terminology can have consequences such as to discourage or confuse prospective home buyers, travel sites, renters, visitors, journalists, and tourists of all kinds.
We even have witches in Ocean Grove. Paul Goldfinger photograph at the annual Heck Avenue witches convention.
The bottom line, borne out by just being here, is that Ocean Grove is NOT a “Christian Seaside Resort” unless you want to stretch the English language to a breaking point.
If the CMA would simply refer to it’s boundaries as “The Camp Meeting Association at Ocean Grove,” that might do the trick. And their summer booklet which is named “OCEAN GROVE 2021 Summer Program Guide” should be called the “Summer Guide to Camp Meeting Association Activities in Ocean Grove, NJ.”
Change is inevitable, and the CMA wants us to change backwards. Will they continue their current trends or will they turn around and be part of the OG community once again.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net
CAT STEVENS. “Where Do the Children Play?
One could argue that those who oppose the OGCMA should turn around instead of fostering their own backwardness and become a part of the OGCMA community.
It just depends how one looks at it.
If you’re talking about the OGHA or Neptune United, both groups that I now identify as hate groups, then that isn’t a community I wish to be a part of.