Survey Compares Christian Left, Right

Because its ranks include a greater variety of beliefs and church backgrounds, the low-visibility Christian left may continue to have trouble matching the impact of the Christian right, according to a recently published study by a California Lutheran University scholar.

Charles Hall, assistant professor of sociology at the Thousand Oaks campus, said his survey of 4,800 activists in eight national groups found that those on the right enjoyed a greater religious consensus.

The Christian left comes largely from old-line Protestant churches (40%), while Catholics make up 29% and evangelicals 27%, Hall said.

“It is possible that this constituency of evangelicals on the left may not see eye to eye on all issues with their fellow mainline Protestant and Catholic left,” Hall wrote in the September issue of the Review of Religious Research, the journal of the Religious Research Assn.

By contrast, 81% of the Christian right respondents identified themselves as evangelicals, and 88% said they were theological conservatives. Two-thirds in the Christian left said they were theological liberals.

Hall conducted mail surveys from 1991 to 1993. The groups surveyed included Sojourners, Bread for the World and Evangelicals for Social Action on the left, and Prison Fellowship, Focus on the Family and Concerned Women for America on the right. Two other groups included are now defunct.

Another major finding, Hall said, was that socioeconomic factors such as average age, educational level, occupation and income were so similar that they were not factors in determining whether a potential activist leaned to the left or right.

“Both groups take their religious faith seriously; both are highly committed and allow their faith to strongly influence their politics,” Hall said.

Nevertheless, the right had a greater consensus on faith issues, he said. Asked if salvation is only through Jesus, 98% on the right said yes, and 64% said yes on the left.

The social divisions were strongest on the rights of women and gays. Equal rights for women were supported by 61% of the left and 11% of the right. The Christian left is also more open to gay and lesbian rights and environmental protections. Those on the left tend to be Democrats (61%), while Christian right members are strongly Republican (81%).

“In order to understand how Christian activists end up with different social and political ideologies, one should pay attention to differences in their religious orientations,” Hall said.

MUSIC

Petra, one of the most enduring Christian rock groups (25 years), will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Melodyland Christian Center, the charismatic church near Disneyland that was built decades ago as a theater-in-the-round. Tickets $15. (714) 635-6391.

* Seventeen-year-old pianist Andrew von Oeyen will play Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the season-opening concert of the Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew’s. The 25-member ensemble, directed by Thomas Neenan, performs at the Episcopal parish, 1031 Bienveneda Ave., Pacific Palisades. Prices vary. (310) 454-1358.

* Grammy winner Andrae Crouch, the Winans, Bob Carlisle and Crystal Lewis will be featured performers in a gospel benefit concert Sept. 30 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Proceeds will benefit the Fred Jordan Missions, Child Welfare League of America and MusiCares. Tickets start at $15. (213) 480-3232.

SOCIAL CONCERNS

The international drive to ban land mines will be discussed in a public forum Sunday at St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach.

The main speaker will be Bobbie Rubin, an elder at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara who has traveled to Southeast Asia as part of a Presbyterian program to assist children in danger. The forum will start at 7 p.m. at the church, 2100 Mar Vista Drive. (714) 644-1341.

* A South-Central Los Angeles program to train church volunteers to care for the homebound and disabled will hold its first session today at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church. Volunteers spend up to four hours a week helping people keep doctor’s appointments, assist in correspondence and telephone calls, and do light shopping.

The Congress of National Black Churches program is funded by the Princeton, N.J.-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said Bishop E. Lynn Brown of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and founder of the Congress’ affiliate in Southern California. (213) 296-5102.

DATES

A three-hour seminar on “The Spirituality of Quilting,” led by Betsy Caprio, director of her Culver City-based Center for Sacred Psychology, will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Mary & Joseph Retreat Center, 5300 Crest Road, Rancho Palos Verdes. A lecturer on Jungian art therapy, Caprio will show more than 70 quilts and quilt tops, including an 1894 mourning quilt from Kentucky. $15. Registration: (310) 377-4867, Ext. 223.

* The Rev. Louis Evans Jr., whose pastorates have included Bel Air Presbyterian and the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, will preach at the 9:30 a.m. service Sunday at Community Presbyterian Church, 540 E. Vine Ave., West Covina. Colleen Townsend Evans, his wife, will speak today in a lecture series that begins at 9:45 a.m. (626) 918-1221.

* Priest-astrophysicist William Steoger of the Vatican Observatory Research Group in Tucson will speak at 7 p.m. Monday in Irvine to launch a four-week religion-and-science lecture series co-sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of Orange. Steoger will review current research on the relations between the two fields, and Philip Johnston, a lecturer in theology, will give a historical overview. The series, which will also address evolution and genetics, will be at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, 9 Hillgate. Admission $5. (714) 282-3040.

* Cal State Northridge will co-host a daylong Religious and Cultural Diversity Fair next Saturday with the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council. More than two dozen workshops will cover topics from religious freedoms, witchcraft, religion in the movies, same-sex marriage blessings and evangelical beliefs to Yoruba religion and messianic ideas in Judaism. The fair will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Student Union, with parking accessible from Zelzah Avenue. Registration $15. (818) 677-5814.

* A free health screening fair will be held next Saturday at Brookins African Methodist Episcopal Church, 4831 S. Gramercy Place, Los Angeles, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Health care professionals will offer tips on self-care for diabetics, conduct blood pressure readings and discuss good nutrition, among other services. (213) 296-5610.

FINALLY

If things had gone as planned, the Rev. Greg Laurie would have taken a good portion of his 12,000-member Riverside congregation to Disneyland on Thursday.

The pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship confesses to being a Disney fan and has cartoon characters adorning his office. Last year, Laurie, who also conducts large evangelism crusades, preached to thousands at the theme park when Disneyland allowed Laurie to put Christian bands on the various stages. Some 500 attendees made “decisions for Christ” and were counseled later in Frontierland’s Golden Horseshoe Theater.

Right after the Southern Baptist Convention vote in June to boycott anything connected to Walt Disney Co. because of the corporation’s gay-friendly policies, Laurie told an interviewer on a Christian radio station that he neither opposed nor supported the boycott. He added that his Harvest Day at Disneyland was an unusual opportunity to preach the gospel, indicating that he would go there again.

But Laurie has now decided to indefinitely postpone the second annual Harvest Day at the park. The pastor wanted “to avoid being caught in the middle of controversy,” a Laurie spokesman said.

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PEOPLE

Jesuit Father John A. Coleman, a prominent sociologist of religion, has joined Loyola Marymount University as the Charles Cassasa Professor of Social Values, an endowed chair named for the former president of the Catholic campus in Westchester.

Coleman, who most recently taught at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, said he was attracted to the university’s concern for “faith that does justice,” its diverse student body and varied teaching opportunities in theological studies, the sociology department and Loyola Law School.

* At least two Southern California ministers will be speaking at the Promise Keepers mass rally in Washington on Oct. 4. The Rev. Jack Hayford, senior pastor of Van Nuys’ Church on the Way, will be one of two emcees; the Rev. Jesse Miranda, associate dean of urban and multicultural affairs at Azusa Pacific University, also will speak at the six-hour gathering.

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