Islamic Groups Protest Museum Exhibits

Three American Islamic groups have asked the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles to alter some exhibits the groups say are insensitive to Muslims. But the Jewish founder-dean of the museum contended this week that the complaints were mostly baseless.

One museum display “contains a very offensive juxtaposition of [Adolf] Hitler and the Ayatollah [Ruhollah] Khomeini,” said a joint statement issued by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations in conjunction with the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California.

The statement said the late Muslim leader of Iran is shown extending his hand in a “Nazi salute.” The Muslim groups also criticized a reference to “atrocities of Muslim rule in Jerusalem” as the cause of the medieval crusades and objected to a display of stamps from Soviet-bloc nations and World War II Fascist countries linked together with stamps from Iran, Iraq and Libya.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the museum, said that Khomeini and Hitler are pictured along with Mao Tse-Tung, Fidel Castro, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Benito Mussolini and Winston Churchill.

“They are all presented as people, good and bad, who were persuaders--in a display showing how people are influenced by the power of the spoken word,” Hier said. “Khomeini is shown raising his hand but not in a Nazi salute.”

The quotation about Muslim rule in Jerusalem was from a pope in the crusades period, he said. Also, the stamp display depicted “how dictatorships communicated through stamps during World War II and in the postwar era,” Hier said. Stamps from Muslim countries were in the minority and depicted no current leaders, he said.

“We are not going to deny the facts of history,” Hier said. “It is not insulting to anyone.”

Hier did concede some validity to another Muslim complaint about a short film dealing with genocide that made specific references to Jews, Tutsis and Hutus, for example, but not to Muslims as victims in Bosnia.

The rabbi said that the museum, which was opened in 1993, will periodically change its exhibits and films. In fact, Hier said, one section on tolerance has been undergoing a major renovation for the last few months with the first new exhibits expected to be ready on Jan. 14.

CHRISTMAS MUSIC

The yuletide music beat continues this weekend at Southland churches:

* Actors David Birney and Charles Cioffi will perform in “Christmas Pudding--A Confection of Songs, Stories, Poems and Other Sweets of the Season,” at 7 p.m. Friday at Westwood Presbyterian Church, 10822 Wilshire Blvd. $10 donation. (310) 474-4535.

* “A Vintage Christmas,” the annual holiday music production at Van Nuys’ Church on the Way, 14800 Sherman Way, will begin a series of 10 presentations today at 4 and 7 p.m. Performances will be at 1, 4 and 7 p.m. Sunday. The same show times will be repeated Dec. 20 and 21. Seating is reserved. $5. (818) 779-8450.

* A Christmas variety show, “Family Snapshots,” will be presented at 5 p.m. today by the Celebration Singers at Bethany Church, 763 N. Sunset Ave., West Covina. The high school- and college-age group performs contemporary Christian music in tours here and abroad. $5. (626) 962-8501.

* Classical guitarist Christopher Parkening and singers Jubilant Sykes and Diane Brown will perform four nights, starting Thursday, in the annual free Christmas concerts of Grace Community Church, 13248 Roscoe Blvd., Sun Valley. The concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 18, 19 and 20 and at 6 p.m. on Dec. 21. (818) 782-5920.

* A joint Catholic-Methodist choir will sing at 6:30 p.m. Sunday during a fund-raising dinner at St. Ambrose Catholic Church in West Hollywood to be attended by United Methodist Bishop Roy Sano. On Dec. 21, the joint choir will perform at Crescent Heights United Methodist Church’s 11 a.m. service. Both churches are at Fairfax and Fountain Avenues. $12.50 for the dinner. (213) 656-4433.

Portions of Handel’s “Messiah” will be performed in at least five churches this weekend:

* The Santa Barbara Choral Society and Orchestra, conducted by Joanne Gondjian Wasserman, at 4 p.m. today at St. James Armenian Church, 4950 W. Slauson Ave., Los Angeles. $20. (213) 295-4588.

* The Paulist Boy Choristers with orchestra and soloists, directed by Dana T. Marsh, at 7:30 p.m. today at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, 10750 Ohio Ave., Westwood. $12-$20. (310) 475-2070.

* Choir and orchestra, directed by Robert Prichard, at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at St. Therese Catholic Church, 510 N. El Molino Ave., Alhambra. Free. (626) 441-5401.

* The Holman Choir, directed by Charles F. Dickerson III, accompanied by an orchestra, including harpsichord and organ, at 3 p.m. Sunday at Holman United Methodist Church, 3320 Adams Blvd., Los Angeles. Free. (213) 731-7285.

* Choir, baroque orchestra and soloists, conducted by Thomas Foster, 5 p.m. Sunday at All Saints’ Episcopal Church, 504 N. Camden Drive, Beverly Hills. $10 donation. (310) 275-290.

* Guest organist Michael A. Burkhardt will be featured in the 28th annual Christmas Candlelight Concert at Bethany Lutheran Church, 4644 Clark Ave., Long Beach, at 4 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Free. (562) 421-4711.

* The 31st annual Living Christmas Tree, formed by choir members of First Baptist Church of Downey, 848 3rd St., will begin performances at 7 p.m. Thursday, continuing with two evening concerts each of the next four days. Free. (562) 923-1261.

DATES

Former journalist Neale Donald Walsch, author of the best-selling “Conversations With God, Book I” and “Conversations With God, Book II,” will speak Sunday at the 9 and 11 a.m. services of the Agape Church of Religious Science in Santa Monica. Walsch also will lead a three-hour workshop, starting at 2 p.m., at the church, 3211 Olympic Blvd. (310) 829-2780.

* Rabbi Deborah Prinz of Temple Adat Shalom in Poway, immediate past president of the San Diego Rabbinical Assn., will talk at 7 p.m. Sunday at Temple Beth Ohr, 1572 Rosecrans Ave., La Mirada. Prinz’s topic is “Judaism Is Pro-Life.” $5. (714) 521-6765.

* About 50 children from homeless shelters run by the city will receive early Christmas presents today from Los Angeles Lakers players at the Great Western Forum, courtesy of the Lakers, Sam’s Club and World Vision, the Christian relief organization. World Vision officials said they will also donate $650,000 worth of personal care products, holiday decorations, clothing and religious publications to women’s shelters in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

FINALLY

The Christmas Eve service that will be shown nationwide on the CBS television network this year will be a Eucharist liturgy from the Los Angeles Episcopal Diocese’s Cathedral Center in Echo Park.

Because the televised service will be prerecorded, Los Angeles Bishop Frederick Borsch and Cathedral Center Provost Jon Bruno will officiate in the rites Tuesday night.

Worshipers hoping to attend--and join in singing traditional carols--must be seated in the 500-seat cathedral church by 6 p.m. Taping will begin at 7 p.m.

Arrangements for the broadcast, which will be aired at 11:30 p.m. Dec. 24, were made by, among others, the national Episcopal Church headquarters in New York City and retired CBS producer Dan Crossland of St. Francis Episcopal Church in Palos Verdes Estates.

Notices may be mailed for consideration 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, or e-mailed to john.dart@latimes.com Items should arrive two to three weeks before the event, except for spot news, and include pertinent details about the people and organizations with address, phone number, date and time.

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PEOPLE

Rabbi Paul Dubin, who served 22 years as the full-time administrator of the Southern California Board of Rabbis, will be honored at a retirement dinner Wednesday not only by Jewish leaders but also by Christians, Muslims and Buddhists.

Dubin, 72, often represented Judaism on the now-defunct “Religion on the Line” radio talk show. He was a co-founder and former president of the Southern California Interreligious Council and a member of the Jewish-Catholic Dialogue in Los Angeles.

The Encino resident served on boards of the Los Angeles Urban Coalition and the Community Relations Conference of Southern California, among other civic and Jewish community groups. Dubin was the rabbinical board’s executive vice president from 1968 to 1971 and from 1978 until the present, with seven years in between as education director of Westwood’s Sinai Temple, 10400 Wilshire Blvd. The retirement tribute will be at that synagogue. (213) 761-8600.