Religious Leaders

COSTA MESA — With heads bowed and the rain pouring over them, local church leaders and hundreds of congregants encircled Costa Mesa City Hall in prayer Monday. Representing numerous faiths, they prayed in a show of support as the city recovers from the suicide of one of its employees and others who face layoffs six months from now. "Today we're simply here to show support and love for our city in light of everything that's been happening," said Becks Heyhoe, an organizer for One Church for Our City, a coalition of Costa Mesa churches.

The need for sex education and birth control dominated the discussion recently when several local religious leaders gathered at Temple Bat Yahm in Newport Beach to discuss abortion. More than 100 people gathered Thursday night to listen to the discussion sponsored by Planned Parenthood. The event, called "God, Women, Faith and Choice," was led by eight religious leaders — including the Rev. Carol Aguilar of the Zen Center of Orange County in Costa Mesa; the Rev. Sarah Halverson of the Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa; Rabbi Mark S. Miller of Temple Bat Yahm; and the Rev. Karen Stoyanoff of the Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church in Costa Mesa.

June Casagrande NEWPORT-MESA -- "Cowardly," "animal" and "tragic" are some of the words local religious leaders are using to describe Tuesday's attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon. And in the aftermath of a horror that has rocked the community and the nation alike, Jewish, Muslim and interfaith leaders of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa are calling for unity among all faiths against a universal enemy of hate. "It's a sad day for our country, and we need to keep together and not have any feelings of hatred or mistrust without information about who's even to blame," said Greg Kelley, president of the Interfaith Council, a group of religious congregations of Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and Irvine.

Like their counterparts worldwide, Newport-Mesa religious leaders have a straight-forward answer to the question: Is there any truth behind "The Da Vinci Code"? But that doesn't mean they won't be seeing the film. Newport Beach resident Brett Kunkle said he plans to watch the film to keep up on contemporary issues. "Even though I think the message of the book is utterly false, there is no point in burying my head in the sand while the rest of my friends and neighbors go see the movie," Kunkle said.

Homosexuality is a deviation from the natural course that God designed for humanity. The appointment of a gay bishop to such a holy and sublime position in the church contradicts with the ethical and spiritual role that God assigned to religious leaders. Furthermore, this appointment will contribute to a further deterioration of the role of religion and clergymen in the society. IMAM MOSTAFA AL-QAZWINI Islamic Educational Center of Orange County I am pleased that the Episcopal Church has indicated its approval and support of gay people by the confirmation of an openly gay bishop.

Religious leaders from around the community are inviting the public to join them Sunday to rejoice in the spirit of Thanksgiving with music, prayer and readings of gratitude. From 7 to 8 p.m. Sunday, the Newport-Mesa Irvine Interfaith Council is hosting an interfaith celebration at St. Mark Presbyterian Church, 2200 San Joaquin Hills Road, Newport Beach, with leaders from various faiths taking part, church officials said. Leaders from nine faiths will join for an hour of uplifting music, prayer and brief readings focused on gratitude and Thanksgiving.

I always enjoy turning to the Saturday Faith page to see how religious leaders, especially those who call themselves "Christians," respond to the great issues of the day. Two "Christian" leaders in particular, Pastor John Barta of Valley Baptist Church and the Rev. Bryan Griem of Light on the Corner Baptist Church are my particular favorites. It never ceases to amaze me what these two men will say. Their twisted "Christianity" is absolutely Orwellian.

Several religious leaders across the country told their congregants Sunday which presidential candidate they ought to vote for. It’s an act of civil disobedience meant to force a confrontation over the IRS’ prohibition on tax-exempt organizations from participating in partisan political activities. Should religious leaders have more latitude to discuss politics from the pulpit?   Having a tax-exempt status is not an automatic right for any group that calls itself a church.

Lolita Harper As the sun made its ascent Thursday morning, local religious leaders and parishioners gathered to give praise to the higher power that made its climb possible and reflect on the many other blessings Americans have. People from more than 18 area congregations gathered Thursday for breakfast to recognize the National Day of Prayer, in which the theme "How America Prays" was explored. For its sixth year running, the prayer breakfast was hosted by the Newport Mesa Interfaith Council.

David Kuo, a former top official in the White House's faith-based initiative, recently wrote "Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction," a book in which he claims the president's top political advisors privately ridiculed evangelical supporters and only embraced the religious activists for their help getting votes. Kuo has warned that evangelical leaders are being used and that they should "fast" from politics for at least a year. Should religious leaders take Kuo's advice and take a break from politics?

More than 40 college and high school leaders from Orange Coast College Circle K and the Costa Mesa and Estancia High School Key Clubs mentored nearly two dozen children from Costa Mesa during a shopping trip for school clothes at Sears, South Coast Plaza. The children, all members of the Boys & Girls Club of the Harbor Area, were selected on the basis of need. The partnership of Kiwanis, the Boys & Girls Club, Circle K, and the Key Clubs have become a potent force benefiting the children of Costa Mesa.

The Resurrection of Jesus is, for the Christian, the essential key for understanding just about everything, not only specifically "religious" matters. The Easter event announces that death and all the ways of death have been defeated. Jesus took death into the tomb. He was raised to life, and so death's grip on the world has been broken. Backing up, we must ask what it is that went so wretchedly wrong that the crowds who joyously welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, laying before him branches and their cloaks, would several days later cry out, "crucify Him. " Why do we call that day "Good" Friday?

COSTA MESA — With heads bowed and the rain pouring over them, local church leaders and hundreds of congregants encircled Costa Mesa City Hall in prayer Monday. Representing numerous faiths, they prayed in a show of support as the city recovers from the suicide of one of its employees and others who face layoffs six months from now. "Today we're simply here to show support and love for our city in light of everything that's been happening," said Becks Heyhoe, an organizer for One Church for Our City, a coalition of Costa Mesa churches.

The mood among the "Irvine 11" soared Wednesday after members of a liberal Jewish organization delivered more than 5,000 signatures to the Orange County district attorney's office denouncing the charges filed against the students for disrupting a speech by the Israeli ambassador to the United States a year ago Tuesday. Jacqueline Goodman, the defense attorney for seven of the 11 Muslim Student Union members charged with two misdemeanor counts of planning to and disrupting a public meeting, said her clients are grateful to the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)

No. 1 Jim Righeimer You would be hard-pressed to find anyone in town who had a bigger news year than Costa Mesa City Councilman Jim Righeimer. The former Planning Commission chairman went toe-to-toe with the police union, which smeared his name on billboards and websites and spent heavily to defeat him, but Righeimer's message of lower spending and creating less-generous retirement packages for public employees resonated with voters, who chose him overwhelmingly in a crowded field.

All praise to Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) for stepping up to submit the federal appropriations request for money to clean up our harbor (“The Political Landscape: Rep. calls for $6M in federal dredging funds,” March 25). As we know, a clean and beautiful bay is the backbone of our vibrant local economy. Sanchez stepping up is particularly admirable given the bay is outside of Sanchez’s district, although an argument is to be made that her district is part of the watershed that drains into the bay. So this begs the question: Why didn’t Rep. John Campbell (R-Newport Beach)

As a religious leader in the community, what kind of New Year’s resolutions would you encourage your congregants to observe in 2010? And how would you persuade them to stick to those resolutions? I believe the new year is a time to get back to basics. We would do well to remember that everything should begin with God’s inspiration and continue with his saving help. I am encouraging people to examine their prayer lives and to strongly consider spending at least some time in prayer each day, at least at the beginning of the day and right before retiring for the evening.

Those who came to know the Pentecostal evangelist Oral Roberts, after he retired to a vacation home overlooking the 10th tee at Newport Beach Country Club, remembered him more as a gracious friend than fiery faith healer. One of the 20th century’s most influential and controversial religious leaders, Roberts died Tuesday at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian of complications from pneumonia, a spokeswoman for his family said. He was 91. Tom Thorkelson, the Orange County director of interfaith relations for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, became good friends with Roberts after they met at a car wash in Newport Beach in 1992.