Voices

People answering the Times Orange County Poll and others interviewed for this series were asked to elaborate on their feelings about God, worship and spirituality. Chau Tran, 43, is a job counselor for the county who lives in Mission Viejo.

Born into the Buddhist faith, she converted to Catholicism as a child and occasionally attends St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Laguna Hills.

“Sometimes I think I believe in God, and other times I’m not as sure. Actually, I think I believe in some teachings that are Christian and others that are Buddhist. I think, for instance, that when you die, then you come back to a different life.

“When I was a baby, I got really sick and almost died. My mom tried many doctors in Hanoi, but they gave up. Finally, she took me to a Catholic Church and baptized me. When I was baptized with holy water I got better.

“Now, I go to church once a year to give thanks to God for making me healthy, because I remember the earlier blessing. I don’t go to church often, but I try to live a good life (by) helping other people. . . .

“When I go, I pray for my family, for peace in Vietnam, and for America too, because it is my second country. I also pray for everyone to have sources of happiness. I see so much suffering in my work. I deal with the homeless a lot.

“My husband is Buddhist. He occasionally attends a temple in Los Angeles. I have a picture of the Virgin Mary and he has a statue of Buddha, and they are both in the living room. But we do not have altars for them.”

Bill Johnston, 39, of Costa Mesa was recently laid off from his job as a leasing and financing agent for a computer company.

Once an active member of a Presbyterian congregation, he has had little time for organized religion in recent years.

“My involvement in the church has dropped off significantly in the past few years. I used to be an elder in the church and led several youth groups. But things changed after I started graduate school, got married and went to work.

“Now I would rather spend Sundays on the golf course with my mom and dad. Instead of attending church, we use that time to be together as a family.

“I still pray--mostly for others I know who are ill or need help. Recently I prayed for a friend’s fiancee, who was very ill right up until the day of their wedding. Just the other day I was driving with my family and we came upon an accident. We stopped and found out that one young man had been quite severely injured in the crash. I prayed for him, that he would be OK.

“I believe in prayer, and feel it has an influence. I believe in Jesus Christ, but for me, religion is now a more personal experience. . . . I try to be good to other people and I hope they’ll be good back.”

Johnston still considers himself a very religious person. “I have a strong faith in God and in Christ. And I have a belief that there is more to what we are doing here than something that occurred, if you will, as a Big Bang (theory of the origin of the universe), or something that happened for no reason.”

Gabriela Hebin, 29, is a jeweler who lives in Orange.

Reared as a Roman Catholic, Hebin no longer attends church and views religion as a personal matter.

“My family was Catholic. (They) sent me to catechism and I took Communion. When I got older, probably in my early teens, I decided that nobody else could come between me and God . . . that I didn’t need someone to intervene.

“After that, God became more of a personal experience for me. I no longer see a function for the church, other than social.

“I like to read about religions all over the world. And I talk with God every day, sometimes more than once. So in some ways, religion is still very much a part of my life.

“I thank God when something good happens. . . . And when something bad happens, I ask what lesson I am supposed to learn from the experience.”

Hebin is also a believer in unexplainable spiritual experiences, and is certain that she and her husband shared a simultaneous hallucination that could only have been a sign from God.

“We saw a symbol that started at the temples and then it came down over the cheeks and mouth like a branch. . . . That’s when I realized that my husband was my life mate. . . . It’s hard to explain it, but we both just knew.”