Schuller’s New Center Faulted for Its Secular Look : Architecture: Some analysts say the Crystal Cathedral’s $25-million latest addition does not look religious enough.

The Rev. Robert Schuller is just weeks away from unveiling another building in his Crystal Cathedral complex--the four-story Family Life Center. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held there on Thanksgiving.

But, already, the $25-million structure has been disparaged by some architectural analysts as not looking religious enough.

“It looks like every standard office building seen in the suburbs,” said Robert A. Benson, associate professor of architecture at Miami University of Ohio.

Only when construction is completed next year on a $5.5-million Prayer Spire at the Garden Grove church, said Benson, will the complex be “pushed back into the sphere of religion” architecturally.

Prayer Spire

Ground was broken two months ago for the 234-foot-high Prayer Spire, designed by noted architect Philip Johnson. Johnson also created the Crystal Cathedral, which some critics suggest looks more like a modern corporate headquarters than a place of worship because of its reflecting glass exterior.

Schuller’s impact on American religious culture came under the gaze of Benson and other scholars at the American Academy of Religion’s annual meeting in Anaheim early this week. The author of numerous books that reflect his unconventional “theology of self-esteem,” Schuller and his Sunday services are seen by millions on his weekly television program.

In an interview this week, he agreed with the architectural critique.

The multipurpose Family Life Center intentionally was designed to resemble an office building so that it could be leased as such in the future if the church ever needs money, Schuller said. When the building initially is opened in January, it will house a gymnasium and the offices for Schuller’s television program.

Well before the $20-million Crystal Cathedral was completed in 1980, Schuller said he talked with Johnson “about some kind of statement that could be part of the cathedral, that would mark it as a gathering place for the people of God.”

Schuller conceded that “the cathedral doesn’t say from the outside what it is; it is incomplete without the spire. . . . We couldn’t afford it at the time.”

The spire will house a 52-bell carillon and a chapel for which $1 million has already been donated. Narrow columns of polished stainless steel will cover the exterior.

‘Art-Deco Zigzag’

Looking at architectural renderings of the steeple this week during a tour of the church, architectural historian Richard Guy Wilson of the University of Virginia, called the design “Art-Deco zigzag” referring to a design of the 1920s.

Wilson also said that except for the cross atop the church’s multistory Tower of Hope offices, nothing on the grounds visible from a distance identifies the complex as a religious center.

Schuller founded the congregation in 1955, preaching to a small group at a drive-in theater. He later pioneered the drive-in church concept, and still addresses churchgoers both sitting inside the Crystal Cathedral and outside in their cars listening to the service on a short-range radio band. Two 90-foot doors on one side of the church open to expose the pulpit section to the parking area.

More than one scholar who toured the church and attended a service last Sunday said he was disappointed that Schuller did not mention the slayings of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador last week.

“The killings were horrible,” Schuller said in an interview. “I probably should have said something but I had so much on my mind about what I had to cover in 60 minutes,” he said. At the same time, he added, “my messages go out to a television audience that hears it three weeks later. I cannot ‘date’ my message.”

Cost Questioned

A recurring criticism over the millions spent on buildings was raised by Steve Shoemaker of the University of Illinois. Shoemaker said he went on two tours Sunday--one at the Crystal Cathedral and one of downtown Los Angeles to view the plight of the homeless.

“I just wished the priorities were different,” Shoemaker said, referring to the $25-million cost of the new Family Life Center.

Schuller’s response was that “an awful lot of (workers) have money this week because of the job opportunities at this building project, some of them from El Salvador.”

Schuller claimed that the structure will open debt-free, explaining that the last payment of $2.8 million, due Jan. 31, will be covered by $3.5 million in outstanding pledges.

Nevertheless, last Sunday from the pulpit and through a full-color brochure, the pastor urged his congregation to increase their contributions 25% during 1990 because of the added costs of maintaining the building.

Schuller said he draws an average of 6,000 people to his three Sunday services each week.