Hindu Festival to Be Celebrated Sunday

Divali, the five-day Hindu festival of lights, will begin officially Sunday with illuminated lawns and homes, the exchange of sweets and purchase of new clothes.

For many Americans of Indian origin, it also marks the new year and wishes for prosperity. The symbolism of light over darkness adds to the holiday’s religious dimension.

As many as 20,000 people are expected to attend festivities today at Cerritos Regional Park at the first large-scale holiday celebration organized by the Artesia-based Federation of Hindu Assns.

Late in the festivities, which last from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., a 60-foot-long, firecracker-filled effigy of Ravanna, an evil ruler defeated by Rama in an ancient story, will be lit by people portraying Lord Rama and his loyal devotees.

The festival--complete with food, fireworks, music and decorated chariots--will actually be combining celebration of the just-completed Dashera holiday and Divali, said Prithvi Raj Singh, the federation president.

“This will be the largest such gathering on the West Coast, and the only one celebrated with this kind of pomp currently takes place in the New York-New Jersey area,” Singh said.

Approximately 20 Hindu temples in the Los Angeles area will have their own festivities. In Northridge, the Hindu Temple Society will hold a pre-Divali festival on its new property at 18700 Roscoe Blvd. from noon to 9 p.m. today.

English spellings of the holiday vary. The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, published last year, spells it Divali, which matches its pronunciation. But the word, which literally means “necklace of lamps,” is often spelled Dewali, a rendering from Hindi, or Dipavali, a transliteration of the word from Sanskrit.

Divali, however it is spelled, is also observed by followers of Sikhism and Jainism--both India-born religions--with attention to events in their own religious history.

MEDIA

A new award for meaningful or spiritual movies has been created by First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. It is the Lloyd C. Douglas Spiritual Quest Award, named after a former pastor who wrote several novels adapted for film and television, including “The Robe” and “Magnificent Obsession.”

The winning film will be announced Friday in Beverly Hills. The nominees are: “The Spitfire Grill,” “Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored,” “Mr. Holland’s Opus” and “Cry, the Beloved Country.”

A workshop open to the public will be held Nov. 16 at the church, at 540 S. Commonwealth Ave., from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., featuring New York-based film reviewers Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, who selected the finalists; screenwriter Richard Wallace (“Braveheart”) and filmmaker Ken Wales. The suggested donation is $6. Reservations: (213) 385-1341.

* The First Baptist Church of Los Angeles will be the principal site of a national teleconference Nov. 16, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., on “Racism, Classism, Sexism and Homophobia.” Said Pastor John H. Townsend: “We want to learn from the successes and struggles of congregations across the country so that we can be more welcoming.” The event will end with a worship service from the Riverside Church in New York City with inserts from Los Angeles First Baptist Church, where the Rev. Ruth Morales will preach. (213) 384-2151.

* A four-part UCLA Extension seminar on the news media, starting Tuesday night, will include a concluding session Dec. 3 on “Religion and Television.” Jeffrey Cole, director of the UCLA Center for Communication, will moderate the series with guest panelists. Fees vary. (310) 825-2301.

PEOPLE

The Rev. John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard Christian churches who has been slowed by physical ailments, will share his “story of recovery” Sunday at another well-known Orange County church--the Crystal Cathedral.

Wimber, formerly a professional musician, became the pastor in 1978 of a 150-member congregation in Yorba Linda now known as the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Anaheim. It has since become the mother church of about 550 fellowships in 28 countries. Wimber was found to have inoperable cancer in 1992 and had a stroke last year.

The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, senior pastor at Garden Grove’s Crystal Cathedral, will interview Wimber at the 9:30 and 11 a.m. services.

* The University of Judaism has named Talmudic scholar Charlotte Fonrobert as the school’s first full-time female faculty member in its Jewish studies department. “Her interest in gender theory in Rabbinic literature will strengthen our offerings both in undergraduate studies and in the Rabbinic school,” said Aryeh Cohen, the department chairman.

CONFERENCES

California’s Southern Baptists--who number 45,000 in more than 1,600 churches and missions--will hold their annual meeting Tuesday and Wednesday at the Pasadena Convention Center. The state convention has been pleased with rising enrollments at its Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley and at California Baptist College in Riverside, the latter enrolling 1,687 this fall, twice as many students as it had two years ago.

A pre-convention pastors conference Monday will feature the Rev. Paige Patterson, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., and one of the leaders of the fundamentalist rise to control of the denomination during the 1980s and early 1990s.

* About 5,000 people are expected to attend the 7th Medjugorje Peace Conference at UC Irvine this weekend. The assembly is named for the village in Bosnia-Herzegovina where six young people have reported appearances of the Virgin Mary since 1981. One of the six, Ivan Dragiceic, was scheduled to speak at the conference, which began Friday night. Registration is $33. (714) 572-9779.

DATES

Greek Orthodox Bishop Anthony of San Francisco will officiate in the Divine Liturgy today at 10 a.m. at St. Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church in Covina, where excavation is under way for construction of a new church and shrine for the parish at 20340 E. Covina Blvd. The facility will be the home of a relic (a piece of rib) of St. Nectarios, a Greek bishop who died in 1920 and was canonized a saint in 1961. (818) 967-5524.

* A panel of medical and legal specialists will discuss the public policy, legal and ethical considerations of physician-assisted suicide at the Museum of Tolerance, 9760 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, at 7:30 p.m. today. The seminar co-sponsor is the Beverly Hills Bar Assn. Admission is $4.50.

* Pastoral psychotherapist James N. Poling and Methodist theologian Linda Hollies will be the main speakers Tuesday and Wednesday at the Claremont School of Theology’s annual ministry convocation. Registration is $35. (909) 626-3521, Ext. 1262.

* “Pillar of Fire,” a dramatic musical tribute to the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, will be presented at Congregation Mogen David, 9717 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, on Sunday at 7 p.m. Rabbi Hillel Silverman, a former Los Angeles rabbi now living in Connecticut, and his son, Jonathan Silverman, star of NBC’s “The Single Guy,” both appear in the drama. Tickets are $50 and $25. (310) 556-5609.

* The 20th annual Catholic-Jewish Women’s Conference in Los Angeles will feature talks by feminist theologians Rachel Adler and Sister Susan Marie Maloney of the Immaculate Heart College Center on Wednesday at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, 363 Wilshire Blvd. The fee is $10. (310) 472-8669.

FINALLY

If any doubt remained that a remnant of the sectarian Worldwide Church of God has adopted mainstream Christianity, a clergy gathering this week at the church body’s Pasadena headquarters should have erased the skepticism.

Love L.A., a 7-year-old group of evangelical and Pentecostal pastors who meet periodically to pray for the city at various host churches, held a joint prayer meeting Tuesday morning at Ambassador Auditorium and the headquarters founded by the late Herbert W. Armstrong.

Among the 300 clergy members present, about a dozen were Worldwide Church of God pastors and a handful were headquarters personnel, said the Rev. Jack Hayford, one of the co-founders of Love L.A.

“I was struck by the humility and genuineness of these men describing their journey back and resubmitting themselves to a circle of Christian fellowship,” said Hayford, the senior pastor of Van Nuys’ Church on the Way, which handles Love L.A. logistics and mailings.

Notices may be mailed to Southern California File, c/o John Dart, L.A. Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, CA 91311, or faxed to Religion desk (818) 772-3385. Items should arrive about three weeks before the event, except for late news, and should include pertinent details about the people and organizations with address, phone number, date and times.

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MUSLIMS

American Muslims in five populous states favored President Clinton 48% to 38% over Republican challenger Bob Dole on Tuesday, according to a telephone survey of 400 voters polled by Minaret magazine and the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

Aslam Adbullah, editor of the Los Angeles-published magazine, said that respondents were randomly selected from former and present subscribers of the magazine living in California, New York, Illinois, Michigan and Texas.

Nearly two-thirds had registered to vote, and 76% of them voted, Abdullah said.

Abdullah said that Clinton benefited from his policies toward education, crime, health care and Bosnia while Dole benefited from his stances on family values, a balanced budget, a tax cut and ethics, according to comments made on election day and night to pollsters.