Hate, eschewed by all religions, will be...

Hate, eschewed by all religions, will be put under a microscope Sunday at a non-sectarian public conference organized by the Jewish Federation Council of Los Angeles.

Rabbi Donald Goor is co-chairman of the conference, titled “The Politics of Hate,” to be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Jewish Community Building in Los Angeles. “An increasing number of groups have resorted to hate tactics” in Southern California and society at large, Goor said.

He said that neo-Nazi groups, the Ku Klux Klan and various anti-immigrant and extremist religious and political groups are blaming entire categories of people for economic, social and moral problems in society.

The problem is not limited to anti-Semitism, Goor said, but extends to hatred against immigrants, gays, lesbians and others.

“All too often, religion--which is intended to make the world a better place--becomes a divisive force,” he said, “and a common response to hatred is to hate back. The goal of the conference is to teach understanding and attempt to bring about change.”

A goal of the conference is “to empower people to deal with hateful confrontations,” said Corey Slavin, the director of the federation’s commission on cults and a vice president of the national Cult Awareness Network. Each participant will leave the conference with ideas and a specific list of community resources to reduce hate, she said.

Workshop leaders bring a variety of backgrounds to the subject. For example, hatred of immigrants will be discussed by Bobbi Murray, director of communications and development for the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles, while Diane Diaz, a television news anchor, and Melvin L. Oliver, director of the Center for the Study of Urban Poverty, will discuss “Hate in Politics, Economics and the Media.”

Actor Mike Farrell, a political activist, will speak about what happens when hatemongering groups shield themselves with the freedom of speech provisions of the Constitution.

A seminar on “Religion and Hate” will be led by David Lehrer, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, and Michael Shermer, executive editor of Skeptic magazine.

Presiding over a session on extremist groups will be UCLA psychiatry professor Louis Jolyon West and cult specialist Janja Lalich, the author of “Cults in Our Midst: The Hidden Menace in Our Everyday Lives.” Lalich, a member of a left-wing political cult in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1970s and ‘80s, said that cults can be distinguished from other groups by their “us versus them” mentality.

“When you are a cult member, you believe your very survival is dependent on staying within the group and on its separation from--if not destruction of--the ‘other’ group,” she said.

West, the former longtime head of UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute, has studied individual and group violence for three decades.

He calls hate “the dark shadow of identification with those we love.” To form our sense of identity, we must bond with a particular group, he said. That in turn requires “that people look at some group of ‘others’--universal strangers--as being somehow different from themselves and a threat.”

“In every society and culture there are learned shibboleths, labels, categories and organized preparations to deal with certain ‘dangerous’ others,” West said.

He recalled growing up in Wisconsin, where the worst animosity was “between Swedes and Norwegians--who really hated each other.”

The best hope for significant change, he believes, is heightened understanding. “That goes beyond just sounding the alarm bells and saying ‘There are hate groups out there,’ ” he said. “We can educate people to be prepared to deal with hate by examining our own hostile feelings toward others.”

The conference will be held at 6505 Wilshire Blvd. Registration at the door is $10 ($7 for students), which includes breakfast.

DATES

* Internationally known jazz guitarist and composer Kenny Burrell will give a free concert of Duke Ellington’s sacred music in honor of Black History Month at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20 at Loyola Marymount University. The concert will include a choir, orchestra and dancers, who will perform selections from the three sacred concerts written by Ellington. Tickets must be reserved through the university’s central ticket agency, (213) 338-7588.

* Marc Hankin will speak on “Keeping Seniors Informed--A Lawyer’s View of Pastoral Care in the ‘90s” at 11:45 a.m. Thursday at a luncheon of the Clergy Network in Los Angeles. Hankin specializes in the fields of elder abuse and conservatorship law. For complimentary reservations, phone (213) 655-2023.

* The Institute for Christian Ministries of the University of San Diego presents Megan McKenna’s “story sandwiches”--which weave symbols of food and money into ethnic stories relating to the Eucharist and the poor--at two locations Thursday: 10 a.m. to noon at San Rafael Parish in Rancho Bernardo and 7 to 9 p.m. in Serra Hall Room 212 at the University of San Diego. For directions and registration information, phone (619) 260-4784.

* “Blacks and Jews: Why Our Old Coalition Needs a New Agenda,” is the title of a guest sermon at Messiah Baptist Church by Rabbi John L. Rosove at 10:15 a.m. Sunday. Rosove is the spiritual leader of the church’s “covenant partner” congregation, Temple Israel of Hollywood. The church is at 4500 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 734-7920.

* Theologian Mary Hope Griffin teaches “Martyrs, Mystics and Desert Mothers,” a survey of the ways in which strong women have helped shape the course and spirit of Christianity throughout the ages, on Sundays from 9:15 to 10:15 a.m. at St. James Episcopal Church in Los Angeles. The free class is open to all. 3903 Wilshire Blvd. (213) 388-3417.

* Great Beginnings for Black Babies--Black Infant Health Project will host a free Celebrate Healthy Babies Family Fun Fair from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 18, at the First Church of God in Inglewood. Activities include health screenings and information, immunizations (birth records required), games, storytellers, clowns and refreshments. 9550 Crenshaw Blvd. (213) 295-9993.

* “Women Creating Community” is a seminar addressing issues facing women in church-related leadership positions. It will be presented at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa from 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Feb. 23. Speakers include Jacqueline DuPont Walker, president of Ward Economic Development Corp.; Betty Alvarez Ham, executive director of Ventura County Youth for Christ, and Vickie Becker, director of women’s concerns at the university’s C.P. Haggard School of Theology. For registration information, call (818) 812-3049.

BRIEFLY

* About 90 Christian and Jewish seminarians will meet for an interfaith retreat Sunday and Monday, sponsored by the National Conference.

* UCLA Extension offers a one-day seminar on “Making Our Lives Cohere” with intellectual historian Huston Smith on Feb. 25, and a series on angels in literature, in art and in “the world’s great wisdom traditions” on Sundays from Feb. 26 through March 12. (310) 825-2301.

* The Skirball Institute of American Values of the American Jewish Committee has announced the subject of its annual essay contest for 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders: “What Does History Teach Us About the Use and/or Abuse of the Constitutional Guarantee of Free Speech? What Are the Implications of This History for Present Day Society?” Several prizes will be awarded, including a grand prize of $5,000 and a trip to Washington for the winner and sponsoring teacher. Entries must be postmarked no later than March 15. For information, call (213) 381-1719.