3 Faiths Worship Under 1 Roof at Irvine Church

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.

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

The move will perhaps mark the first time in the United States that Christians, Jews and Muslims have worshiped under one roof.

“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 other 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 nearby.

“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 a Sunday. A unified Thanksgiving service has become a 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 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 that the Reconstructionist synagogue couldn’t have grown from 11 families to 450 without the support of the church. Plumer also gave Rachlis and his synagogue board veto power, which he declined, on the mosque’s move to the church.

“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 about allowing the mosque to use the church facilities started several weeks ago. Plumer said although 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 of the Friday midday. “Call it fate, providence or whatever. But that is one of the few times that the facility is available.”

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 they had 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 than on the Hadith, a collection of the prophet Muhammad’s teachings, words and deeds. His mosque will follow the tenets of the Koran, Jalali said.

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.”

Michael Spindle, the church administrator, is hopeful.

“We’re really excited,” he said.