Rally on September 3, 2007. Tabernacle. Paul Goldfinger photo.©
Sunday service in the Boardwalk Pavilion on Sept 2, 2007. Paul Goldfinger photo ©
Youth Temple: Community joins together to raise money after Sandy.
c. 2014 Paul Goldfinger photo
By Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor @Blogfinger (April, 2015 ). Update in 2020 and repost in 2021.
On January 13, 2013, about 300,000 marchers converged on Paris to oppose the idea of legalizing gay marriage in France.
Earlier that week, the Episcopal Diocese of the Washington, D.C. area announced that gay marriage ceremonies will be held in the National Cathedral, the 6th largest in the world. In 2013, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage in two cases, the first such cases since they last looked at it 10 years before.
So far, 37 states and the District of Columbia allow gays and lesbians to marry including New Jersey which joined the group on October 21, 2013.
The issue has been contentious in those states where, so far, gay marriage has not been legalized, although there are civil union laws in some states. Now, about 75% of the population lives in places where gay marriage is legal.
Gay marriage also is a cause for debate by many religions in the US and around the world. The Episcopal church has had a wrenching controversy about gay marriage, and their ruling, which allows such ceremonies in states where it is legal, has caused members and parishes to leave the church.
The United Methodist Church has been discussing changing its policies. Many Fortune 500 corporations have given support to the gay marriage movement. Public opinion has been changing rapidly in that direction as well, and President Obama has reversed himself on the subject. Now over 50% of citizens polled across the country support gay marriage.
Currently the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments regarding whether same sex marriage is a a right under the 14th amendment regarding equal protection under the laws. That ruling will be issued in June.*
Ocean Grove received state-wide and national attention over the 2007 Pavilion controversy. The Camp Meeting Association had refused to allow a lesbian couple have a civil union ceremony in the Boardwalk Pavilion, and later the State of New Jersey ruled the CMA guilty of discrimination. It resulted in the formation of a gay rights organization in the Grove (Ocean Grove United.)
But the brouhaha in the Grove was not about civil unions per se, nor did it have anything to do with gay marriage. It wasn’t even about the tenets of the Methodist Church to ban gay unions and marriages in their churches. Instead it was about discrimination in that one building.
The Boardwalk Pavilion was judged to be a public place, so turning the gay couple away on religious grounds was ruled discriminatory by the State. And this event in Ocean Grove became part of the fabric of the gay rights movement in New Jersey.
Some wondered whether the Grove would get a reputation as being an anti-gay town and if our town would become a lightening rod for gay issues which might erupt with any local provocation such as the 2013 refusal of the Asbury Park Council to support the OG FEMA appeal. That refusal was based on the views of some Asbury councilmen who connected the Pavilion matter to their decision to support The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association or not with the FEMA appeal, and they chose not. (Subsequently they wisely changed their minds.)
In 2012, when Kirk Cameron came to speak about marriage in the Great Auditorium, there was a demonstration involving perhaps 200 people who protested his appearance because of anti-gay rhetoric which supposedly had expressed elsewhere. The event resulted in a great deal of publicity, even though no actual anti-gay rhetoric on his part occurred then in the Grove.
In July 2013, when Mike Huckabee came to preside at Sunday services in the Great Auditorium, a meeting was held to discuss free speech in the Grove. In attendance were officials of the Camp Meeting and of Ocean Grove United. Just the fact of such a meeting points up how sensitive these issues can be in this town.
Ocean Grove is a unique village, not only because of the significant presence of a religious-based group that follows the tenets of the Methodist Church, but also because of a relatively large gay community living here.
It is fundamentally a tolerant town, but because of past experiences as outlined above, we need to keep our eyes on LGBTQ issues and try to prevent any more brush fires from igniting the whole forest.
The recent initiative of working together for the good of the town sprang from a natural disaster—Superstorm Sandy (2012.) It created a model for everyone in the Grove to continue this neighborly attitude where everyone works for the common good.
And besides, any issue which is important to a significant number of Grovers should attract the attention of the rest of us.
2020 Update:
On June 26, 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled, in a 5-4 decision, that same sex marriage be legalized in all states.*
The United Methodist Church has 13 million members worldwide. They have been struggling for over 50 years with concerns surrounding the issues of marriage equality and gay clergy.
Now, the Church is on the threshold of dividing into two branches over these controversies by forming a splinter group—a “traditionalist” Methodist denomination.
Evidently, the stage is set for the two-Church solution to become policy at a meeting in May to be attended by Church officials from all over the world including about 30% from Africa. About 55% are American.
We haven’t heard of any official notice from the OGCMA regarding which group it will associate with, but our sources tell us that the CMA will retain its past “traditional” approach in these matters.
The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association is not a church, but it has formed an affiliated Ocean Grove Church which will be meeting at St. Paul’s in the off-season and at the beach in season. We understand that the new church will have a “brick and mortar” location on Embury Avenue, but no details have been announced.
We all remember the controversies which surfaced in 2007. Those wounds could be easily reopened without vigilance in the Grove.
So this topic regarding the split is of interest to many of us who live here and those from out of town who also care. After Sandy, Blogfinger received 25,000 visits in one day from all over the world, so we do know that there are many who care about Ocean Grove.
Here is a link to a very good update on this topic. It seems to be a fair presentation by VOX an on-line news site, although VOX is generally a left leaning source.
As usual, comments are welcome here on Blogfinger.
www.vox.com/identities/2020/1/7/21051757/methodist-church-split-lgbtq-same-sex-marriage
2021 update: The UMC has decided to delay a split in their church until 2022. Meanwhile a conservative. “traditionalist” group called “The Global Methodist Church” will leave the UMC regardless of the eventual decision of the General Conference.
Other churches will also not wait. Many of those are “Progressive.”
The main issues have to due with ordination and marriage of LGBTQ people.
BLOSSOM DEARIE:
