Controversial Cross-Shaped Pier In Ocean Grove Opens This Saturday

OCEAN GROVE, NJ — The cross-shaped pier at Ocean Grove that caused some controversy last summer has been completed, and will open this Saturday, April 15.

This is according to Michael Badger, president of the Camp Meeting Association, a Christian Methodist organization that owns much of the land at Ocean Grove. His group raised the $1.3 million to build the pier.

There will be a ribbon cutting at noon. The pier will extend into the Atlantic Ocean, will be fully open to the public and can be used for fishing, crabbing or simply taking a stroll.

But some argue the pier — which was deliberately designed by the Camp Meeting Association to be in the shape of a cross — is an overtly religious symbol that should not be in a public space.

More importantly, this is hardly the first controversy in tiny, Victorian-era Ocean Grove: In 2007, the Camp Meeting Association refused to give two lesbian women permission when they applied for a permit to get married at the boardwalk pavilion. The Methodist group denied the women's application, saying civil unions violated Christian doctrine against same-sex marriage.

The couple sued and in 2012, a state administrative law judge ruled the Camp Meeting Association was breaking New Jersey's law against discrimination.

In response, the Camp Meeting Association now does not allow any weddings to be held at its boardwalk pavilion. Read more about that: Judge Rules In Favor Of Same-Sex Couple In Ocean Grove Discrimination Case

Also, Ocean Grove's public beaches are closed on Sunday mornings (so town residents can attend church) and for reasons that are unclear, a yoga class was not allowed to be taught on the boardwalk.

Shane Martins, an attorney who lives in Ocean Grove and sits on the Neptune Zoning Board, said last summer he was going to ask the ACLU to look in to the legality of cross-shaped pier.

"This is Christian nationalism," Martins said at the time. "We are not a Christian nation; we are a nation that has many Christians in it."

This week, two days before its grand opening, Badger said no legal opposition was ever filed against the pier, although some New Jersey residents did complain to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

"People were asking Neptune Township to get involved, because Ocean Grove is in Neptune Township. But as Neptune Township has said, because this is oceanfront property it falls under the purview of the NJ DEP."

He said the DEP never once took issue with the shape of the pier and approved a rendering of how it would look more than a year ago. He said the pier is also designed in a "T" to withstand strong storms.

Some Ocean Grove residents who donated to fund the pier's construction said they feel hoodwinked.

Ocean Grove Douglas Grote said he gave $50, but he never would have donated had he first seen a rendering.

Ocean Grove is a tiny Jersey Shore town literally 500 feet away from Asbury Park, a hub of the LGBTQ+ community. Ocean Grove was originally started as a Methodist summer camp and to this day, a Methodist ministry called the Camp Meeting Association owns all the land in Ocean Grove, including the beach and the area where the pier was built. There are regular Christian worship services at Ocean Grove; it is a Methodist seaside summer retreat.

Pier In Shape Of Cross Stirs Up Anger In Jersey Shore Town (August 2022)