A Religious Triple Play

Twelve years ago, the Irvine United Church of Christ opened its doors--and its arms--to a small Jewish congregation in search of a home. On Sunday, the church embraced followers of another faith--Islam--perhaps marking the first time in the United States that Christians, Jews and Muslims have worshiped under one roof.

During the Sunday morning service, the Rev. Fred C. Plumer introduced his congregants to the church’s newest tenants in a quest for greater understanding of what it means to be “children of one God.”

The Christians greeted the Muslims with a ripple of applause that grew stronger as it swelled throughout the stark sanctuary under a geodesic dome.

“I just think it’s fabulous. It’s like extending the hand of Christ in love,” said Lois Johnson, a member of the Irvine church who drives from San Clemente to attend services. “And that’s what we are all about.”

On Friday, a handful of Muslims who have formed the Unified Mosque of Irvine will pray to Allah in the church’s multipurpose room. The members of the University Synagogue will fill the sanctuary for Sabbath services four hours later and Saturday. On Sunday, the Christians install the removable cross for services.

“I think there are some isolated incidents of two different faiths sharing one facility,” said the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the national Interfaith Alliance in Washington, D.C. “But I haven’t heard of three religions sharing facilities. I think it’s a wonderful symbol of what ought to be the unifying force of religion in a community.”

“We’re making history,” said Mir-Javid Jalali, president of Islam World Unified Mosques, a new organization that Jalali hopes will become an umbrella group for similar progressive mosques. “There is some unwritten hatred between our faiths which is not religious. We all believe in one God.”

The three-faith, one-roof experiment will continue for at least a year, until the fast-growing University Synagogue, with its 450 families, moves into its own building a short distance away.

“We’re really grieving that they’ll be eventually leaving,” Plumer said. “Living with a synagogue and with modern-day Jews is unbelievably eye-opening. I suspect it will be the same thing with the mosque.”

Since 1988, the church and synagogue have shared an unusual closeness that has far surpassed the original landlord-tenant relationship. Together the congregations volunteered in the community, studied the Old Testament and even shared two Rosh Hashana services when the Jewish holiday fell on Sunday. A unified Thanksgiving service has become a popular tradition.

The relationship is strong enough that when Plumer took a sabbatical a few years ago, he asked the temple’s rabbi, Arnold Rachlis, to fill in as a guest “preacher.”

Plumer said both he and his congregation have benefited from the 12-year relationship with University Synagogue, gaining a greater understanding of Judaism--the foundation of Christianity.

“Jesus was born a Jew and he died a Jew,” Plumer said.

And Rachlis has said the Reconstructionist synagogue couldn’t have grown from 11 families to 450 without the support of the church. Plumer also offered to give Rachlis and his synagogue board veto power on the mosque’s move to the church, but they declined.

“I think it’s typical of the attitude of that wonderful church to open its door,” said Gloria Bohrer, a longtime member of University Synagogue. “I think we will also feel very comfortable about having a mosque here. I’m proud that the church would try to encourage that.”

Plumer said he views the new relationship with the Muslims as another learning experience.

“Islam wasn’t new to me; I’ve studied it quite a bit. But I’m already learning that I didn’t know it well,” Plumer said. “It’s another blessing, another opportunity to grow.”

Discussions over allowing the mosque to use the church facilities started several weeks ago, before the latest outbreak of violence in the Middle East. Plumer said that while there were “fairly intense conversations about space,” there was no opposition to the concept of opening the facilities to the Muslims.

The mosque needed the room at midday Friday, which had been one of the few lulls at the facility that often bustles up to 18 hours a day.

“That is their time,” Plumer said. “Call it fate, providence or whatever. But that is one of the few times that the facility is available.”

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Jalali praised Plumer during Sunday’s service, saying, “I wish that we had government bureaucrats working like him.”

Jalali said he decided to start the mosque because the Friday prayer services held in meeting rooms at a bowling alley in Irvine have gotten so crowded that the Muslims need to pray in shifts.

The Irvine resident and former physics professor said he also believes there’s a need for a different kind of mosque, one whose tenets rely solely on the Koran and the traditions of the prophets based on Islam’s holy book, rather on the Hadith, a collection of the prophet Muhammad’s teachings, words and deeds.

He said he approached Irvine United Church of Christ because of its inclusive tenets, and because he had--for some unknown reason--held onto a yellowing newspaper clipping and church bulletin from an earlier visit to the church, in September 1994.

“You dare to have courage to say what you believe and stand for,” Jalali told the congregation. “You express different messages, harmoniously.”

Bringing a church, synagogue and mosque together on the same property is appealing to many.

“I think it’s awesome,” said Abraham Khader, a Tustin resident who will attend the new mosque. “Because despite the differences, it’s all considered a house of God, a place to pray to the creator.”

Interfaith advocates are also pleased, especially during a time of escalating tensions between Muslims and Jews.

“I think it’s a wonderful statement, particularly in these times of increasing turmoil in the Middle East,” said Bill Shane, executive director of the National Conference for Community and Justice’s Orange County chapter. “That in Orange County the three religions can share a facility and work together with respect and understanding. It’s a wonderful lesson for all of us.”

“It’s a very interesting step,” said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Southern California chapter. “There’s never any harm in getting together and sharing.”

Nearly 15 years ago, when the Irvine United Church of Christ considered the architecture for its buildings, it selected a “more organic” dome rather than a traditional church with a towering steeple. Plumer said he didn’t know at the time that the globe-like buildings would one day be filled with the voices of three of the world’s largest religions.

“But the sense of possibility was there,” Plumer said Sunday.

As for the future of the relationship between the mosque and the church, Plumer said he doesn’t know. “We’re only at the beginning of the romance.”

But Michael Spindle, the church administrator, is hopeful.

“We’re really excited,” he said. “It’s a real adventure to learn about another religion that we know little about.”