SCHOOL PRAYER: Arguments against expanding prayer in...

SCHOOL PRAYER: Arguments against expanding prayer in public schools through a constitutional amendment or other legislation will be presented by speakers at two meetings next week in the San Fernando Valley.

Although student-led prayers in campus Christian clubs and quiet prayers by individuals are legal, some members of Congress have discussed a possible constitutional amendment to permit greater leeway for student-led prayers.

Sam Mistrano of the American Civil Liberties Union will address the issue at the 8 p.m. Friday service at Temple B’nai Hayim, 4302 Van Nuys Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Rabbi Sally Olins leads the Conservative congregation.

Next Saturday, Alan J. Reinach, the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s regional director for public affairs and religious liberty, will speak during the denomination’s annual Religious Liberty Rally at the Hall of Liberty, Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive. The program begins with a short concert at 2:30 p.m.

Reinach’s talk is titled “School Prayer: Could It Be Un-American, Un-Constitutional and Un-Christian?”

CHRISTIAN COMEDIANS: Robert G. Lee of West Hills, one of Hollywood’s busiest warm-up comics at the tapings of television sitcoms, will headline a “Just Heaven Fun” comedy night at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Bel Air Presbyterian Church, 16221 Mulholland Drive, one mile west of Sepulveda Boulevard.

Also appearing are singer-comedian Paul Aldrich and guest comic Jennifer Rawlings. Lee and Aldrich are both members of a group called “Clean Comedians.”

Tickets are available at Valley Book and Bible stores for $10 each or by calling the United Ministries office at (818) 788-4210, Ext. 137.

THIRTY-HOUR FAST: More than 17 people associated with Hillcrest Christian Church, mostly teenagers, will go without food for 30 hours on Feb. 24 and 25 to raise money for famine-fighting programs of World Vision.

The participants are asking relatives, friends and neighbors to sponsor them during the fast that will begin around the world at 1 p.m. on Feb. 24, according to Brandon Beard, junior high youth director at the Granada Hills church.

More information is available from Beard at (818) 360-1953 or World Vision at (800) 7-FAMINE.

TEENS AND ORTHODOXY: A three-member panel will discuss raising teen-agers in an Orthodox Jewish setting at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the social hall of Shaarey Zedek Congregation, 12800 Chandler Blvd., Valley Village.

The panelists will be Rabbi Avrohom Stulberger, principal of Valley Torah High School; Rabbi Simcha Weiser, headmaster of San Diego Hebrew Day School, and Michael Held, director of the Orthodox Counseling Program for Jewish Family Service.

More information can be obtained from the panel’s co-sponsor, Valley Torah Alumni Assn., at (818) 984-1805.

VALENTINE VOWS: Two days before St. Valentine’s Day, two dozen couples will reaffirm their “wedding/holy vows or union/commitment vows” in a special 1 p.m. ceremony Sunday at North Hollywood Church of Religious Science, 6161 Whitsett Ave.

The Rev. Mark Vierra will officiate in the renewal of vows by couples ranging from elderly people long married to couples together for less than a year, a church spokesman said. Wedding cake and hors d’oeuvres will be served after the ceremony.

TALK ON GRIEF: Psychotherapist-author Anne Brener will address the Clergy Network luncheon at noon Wednesday in Reseda on “Walking the Mourner’s Path--From Grief to Healing.” The free lunch will be at Woodland Care Center, 7120 Corbin Ave. Reservations: (800) 707-2224.