To editors of Christian and Jewish religious...

To editors of Christian and Jewish religious publications, the complaints are familiar: “Don’t air our dirty linen in public . . . print criticism only of our opponents . . . run mostly edifying religious lessons.”

Now, similar pressures are being felt in American Islam as fledgling Muslim media outlets mature and seek to follow both journalistic standards and religious tradition.

So writes Aslam Abdullah, editor-in-chief of The Minaret. The monthly Muslim magazine published in Los Angeles is the largest in the country with a national circulation of 12,000.

Three ideas on what Muslim media should emphasize have surfaced, Abdullah said in a recent editorial: The religiously motivated feel the media “should educate and preach”; the politically motivated argue for “exposing the enemies” to help “understand the nature of the danger,” and “self-centered Muslim leadership” believes that Muslim media should promote Muslim groups and leaders and “should not publish negative articles and must never be critical of [them].”

But Abdullah says that professionals in Muslim journalism should be guided by industry standards “within the framework of the divine guidelines.” The editor quoted from the Koran: “Speak the truth and do not overlay the truth with falsehood, and do not knowingly suppress the truth.”

Information is in the public domain, wrote Abdullah. “Journalism links people with information,” he said.

The trouble is, he added, Muslim leaders want to use media for publicity purposes only, and when they see something critical printed, they react in panic “and start calling names.”

Abdullah appealed to readers to express support for “a free, responsible and honest journalism” in order to improve The Minaret’s news coverage.

THANKSGIVING

* An American tradition that lends itself to inclusive religious celebrations, Thanksgiving will be celebrated in several interfaith services next week. A sampling, listed in chronological order, follows:

* “Sing America’s Song,” an inspirational musical featuring an AME Church gospel choir, a Mormon Polynesian Choir and a Bahai trio, among others, will begin at 7 p.m. Sunday at South Coast Community Church, 5120 Bonita Canyon Road near the UC Irvine campus. The sponsor is the Newport Mesa Irvine Interfaith Council. Admission will be two cans of food, which will be distributed to the poor later in the week.

* Rabbi Larry Goldmark of Temple Beth Ohr will give the sermon at La Mirada’s annual community Thanksgiving service at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Community Presbyterian Church, 13701 Hillsborough Drive. The service will also include Catholic, Presbyterian, United Methodist and United Church of Christ clergy. Offerings will go to a fund to help area transients.

* A service sponsored by interreligious and ecumenical groups in the Harbor and Palos Verdes Peninsula area will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Temple Beth El, 1435 W. 7th St., San Pedro. Information: (310) 833-2467.

* A Thanksgiving Eve service will be held at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday by Christian and Jewish congregations who are part of the 12-year-old North Hollywood Interfaith Food Pantry. Clergy of the 10 congregations will conduct the family service at North Hollywood First Christian Church, 4390 Colfax Ave., and accept contributions of food staples by participants.

* Christian, Jewish and Buddhist gay and lesbian clergy will hold their annual interfaith Thanksgiving service at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Metropolitan Community Church for All the Saints, 3621 Brunswick Ave., Atwater Village. Rabbi Denise L. Eger, president of the sponsoring Lesbian and Gay Interfaith Clergy Assn., called the service a testament to “our lesbian and gay spiritual strength and wonderful diversity.” Information: (213) 656-6093.

* The Rev. Cheol Kwak of Redondo Beach’s First United Methodist Church will preach at the 23rd annual South Bay interfaith Thanksgiving service at 8 p.m. Wednesday at St. James Catholic Church, 415 Vincent St., Redondo Beach. “We are requesting donations of canned food and cash for distribution by food programs at our local congregations,” Kwak said.

* On Thanksgiving Day, an 11:30 a.m. interfaith service sponsored by the Ecumenical Council of the Pasadena Area Churches will be held in the northeast corner of Central Park, with Rabbi Marvin Gross speaking. Gifts of food will be given to Union Station’s Thanksgiving dinner in the park.

CHRISTMAS ALTERNATIVE

* If someone on your Christmas list would be pleased knowing that you purchased--in their name--medicine, trees, livestock or humanitarian aid for the needy abroad or in this country, then Alternative Gift Markets Inc. has a shopping list for you.

The nonprofit organization will hold “markets” at several local churches in the coming weeks. On Sunday, purchases can be made at Pasadena Presbyterian Church, 54 N. Oakland Ave.--which hosted the first alternative market in 1980--from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and at Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church in Claremont, First Presbyterian Church of Granada Hills and King of Glory Lutheran Church in Newbury Park. On Dec. 3, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Tujunga and the Glendale Church of the Brethren will have a table set up for interested buyers.

For other locations, call Alternative Gift Markets in Lucerne Valley at (800) 842-2243.

DATES

* Three people will be baptized as Christians at 4 p.m. Sunday by a high-level trio of bishops--Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese, Episcopal Bishop Frederick Borsch and Lutheran Bishop Paul Egertson. During the service at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Downtown Los Angeles, the three men will renew the 3-year-old trilateral covenant that recognizes the validity of baptisms done in each of their churches. The service is open to the public.

* Allan Vogel, a renowned oboe soloist, will perform Sunday at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, 540 S. Commonwealth Ave., in a concert to benefit the 62nd annual Los Angeles Bach Festival, to be held Feb. 26-March 1. Vogel will be joined by flutist Janice Tipton and harpsichordist Patricia Mabee in the 3 p.m. concert of classical chamber music. Tickets are $15.

* Jesuit Father Stanley Jaki, a historian of science who won the 1987 Templeton Prize in religion, will speak on how the Christian worldview established the matrix for the development of modern science in a lecture at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Caltech’s Beckman Laboratory basement. The lecture is co-sponsored by the New Oxford Review Forum of Southern California and the Newman Center at Caltech. Donations will be accepted. Information: (818) 5086257.

* A Thanksgiving weekend “serenity retreat” at Mission San Luis Rey Retreat house near Oceanside will be led by Father Bill Wilson for registrants who are in 12-step recovery and Alcoholics Anonymous programs. The three-day retreat costs $80 for double-occupancy rooms and $130 for a private room. Information: (619) 757-3659.

* Author Marianne Williamson will be talking about and signing copies of a paperback version of her “Illuminata,” an eclectic collection of contemporary prayers and meditations, on Tuesday starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore, 8585 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. Information: (310) 659-1733.

MUSIC

* “The Young Messiah Farewell Tour,” more than a dozen top recording artists in contemporary Christian music, will perform next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Pond of Anaheim. Steven Curtis Chapman, Twila Paris, Carman and other soloists will sing Christmas songs with the backing of a 200-voice choir and a 40-piece orchestra. Groups should call (800) 791-7650.

* The sacred music of jazz great Duke Ellington will be performed at 7 p.m. Sunday at Redondo Beach First United Methodist Church, 243 S. Broadway, featuring acclaimed jazz flutist James Newton. Admission is by ticket only. Reservations: (310) 372-8445.

* A benefit concert featuring the Roger Wagner Chorale will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday in the Village Lutheran Church of Westwood, 343 Church Lane. Jeannine Wagner will conduct and William Charles Beck will play the organ at the concert, for which a $50 donation is requested. An exhibition of Jan Wagner paintings will open at 2 p.m. Because space is limited, phone inquiries should be made to Marjorie Bayless at (310) 476-3380.

* Traditional gong music of the southern Philippines, performed by the World Kulintang Institute, will open the 1995-1996 music season at Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3300 Wilshire Blvd., in a 4 p.m. concert Sunday. Donation: $5. Information: (213) 389-3191.

FINALLY

* The president of Loyola Marymount University has been named Pope for a night. It’s a case of thespian aspirations more than papal aspirations, however.

Jesuit Father Thomas P. O’Malley Jr. will portray Pope Paul III, who ruled the Vatican from 1534 to 1549, during a private program Sunday on the Westchester campus. The event is celebrating an endowed professorship for faculty member Warren Sherlock, who was named the John Edward Cosgrove Chair of Communications Art.

O’Malley will play the role in a reading of Sherlock’s award-winning play, “The Black Pope,” in which the pontiff opposes Ignatius of Loyola’s determination to launch a new order of priests, the Society of Jesus.

While he was president of John Carroll University, O’Malley acted in a production of “Inherit the Wind.” Before taking the president’s post at Loyola Marymount, O’Malley was an associate editor of America magazine, where he was also the Jesuit publication’s theater critic in New York.