Panel Tackles Big Questions of Faith

The panel of religious leaders was prepared to answer a host of faith-related questions at a recent public meeting in Ventura.

“How do you feel about school prayer and posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms?”

“What do you think about the origin of man and the creation of life?”

“Who wrote the Bible?”

The panel--consisting of a rabbi, a Roman Catholic priest, a United Church of Christ pastor, a Bahai faith minister and a Seventh-day Adventist elder--was participating in “What My Faith Means to Me.” The meeting was the first in a series of public discussions on faith to be led by a rotating panel of religious leaders at various sites around the county.

The free meeting, sponsored by Ventura Interfaith Ministerial Assn. and the Oxnard Clergy Assn., brought 75 people from various backgrounds together on a Monday night at the First United Methodist Church.

“Our purpose here tonight is to knock down walls and build bridges,” said Rabbi John Sherwood, founder of the program and the evening’s moderator. “Religions are not all alike. We’re all different. Thank God for the differences.”

The four other panelists were United Church of Christ Rev. John Martin, Bahai faith Chairman Charles Howard, Roman Catholic Father George Reynolds and Seventh-day Adventist Pastor Marvin Wray.

Each religious leader was allowed five minutes to give an overview of the doctrines of his religion and offer a personal vision of faith. A 90-minute question-and-answer period followed.

Those attending learned from Howard that the Bahai faith began in Persia 155 years ago. The faithful, he said, seek to achieve unity between all people through peace, equality and abolishment of extremes of wealth and poverty.

Martin of the United Church of Christ said his church regards God as a person and Jesus as an incarnation of God. He also said church members believe people have the power to create worlds with words.

Reynolds, raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, told of his Catholic conversion at the age of 18. “God is waiting to enter into our lives,” he told those attending.

Wray began his five-minute testimony by clearing up what he said was a common misunderstanding.

“Seventh-day Adventists are not Mormons. I get asked that all the time. My saying this is not a slam against Mormons. We’re just different,” he said.

He also told of converting to his religion as an adult, after years spent as an alcoholic.

Each speaker’s opening was followed by loud applause from the audience, many of whom were quick to raise their hands when the audience participation period arrived.

Those who attempted to make theological points were directed toward asking a question by Sherwood, an experienced moderator.

The former crisis intervention counselor for the Los Angeles Police Department is also rabbi emeritus of Temple Emet of Woodland Hills, past professor at St. John’s Roman Catholic Seminary in Camarillo and Ventura County Fire Department chaplain. He managed to keep the evening on track and fielded questions with deftness and good humor.

As for the questions, Reynolds responded to whether the Ten Commandments should be posted in schools. He said because he has experienced religious persecution, he believed such a posting was not a good idea.

“If we’re not careful there are some who would use the cloak of religion to mask prejudice,” he said.

“I have no problem with it as long as it’s posted in the original Hebrew,” Sherwood joked.

Another topic, government sanctioned school prayer, was not embraced by Wray, whose church, he said, was involved in religious liberty issues.

“I do not favor prayer in public school. I don’t want government intervention,” Wray said.

On the origin of man and creation of life, all panelists said they believe God is the creator of life, but there was disagreement on the need for a literal interpretation of religious texts. The Seventh-day Adventist pastor said his church believes in a literal six-day creation, while the Bahai chairman said his church teaches that faith and science are compatible.

Wray also took on the question of “who wrote the Bible?”

“A variety of holy men as instructed by the Holy Spirit,” he said.

“It took about 60 years to compile the books of the Bible,” said Howard, referring to the King James translation. “Many interpretations are taken from the literal context. That is the reason there are so many sects.”

Among those attending was Ventura resident Mary Haffner, 36.

“I came because I’m fascinated by religion and I want to find out what different faiths believe,” she said. “Tonight I saw a lot of similarities. I’m looking for one fundamental truth.”

Haffner plans to attend all the panel discussions in the series. The next one will be held at 7 p.m. Nov. 30 at St. Paul’s Methodist Church, 1800 South C St., Oxnard.

The moderator will be Gary Dusek, Oxnard Ministerial Assn. chairman and professor at Westmount College in Santa Barbara. The religions represented on that panel will be Presbyterian, Evangelistic Baptist, Reform Judaism and Bahai.

Future subjects will include angels and demons, forgiveness and reconciliation, the future of humanity, life after death, sexual morality, termination of life and the meaning of salvation.