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Evangelical minister Rick Warren brought a message of unity and civility to more than 1,000 people who attended the annual Los Angeles Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast today, avoiding mention of his outspoken opposition to gay marriage and abortion rights.
Warren, pastor of Orange County’s Saddleback Church and author of the best-selling “A Purpose-Driven Life,” acknowledged that “sometimes I’m a little controversial.” But as in his recent invocation at President Barack Obama’s inauguration, he preached on universal themes of God’s love and service to the poor.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was less circumspect, and acknowledged his support of same-sex marriage and “a woman’s right to choose.” He mentioned that he had performed marriage ceremonies for gay and lesbian couples.
Warren was a strong supporter of California’s Proposition 8, the recently approved ballot measure outlawing same-sex marriage in the state.
“We won’t always agree,” Villaraigosa told the audience gathered at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel downtown. “But we can agree on basic civil rights. We may not agree on Roe vs. Wade, but we both want to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortion.”
Before the breakfast began, Warren worked the crowd in the giant ballroom, shaking hands and hugging guests at more than a dozen tables. “I love the way he prays,” said Rumania Urbina, a retired teacher and immigrant from Venezuela. “It feels wonderful.”
Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, a Republican, praised Warren as “a pastor who believes in traditional marriage” and congratulated Los Angeles officials for having “the courage to say no to political correctness” and welcoming a speaker who is “not ashamed of his savior Jesus Christ.”
--Margot Roosevelt
Photograph by Ron Edmonds / Associated Press |
Pastor Rick Warren delivers the invocation at
President Obama's inauguration.
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Pastor Rick Warren will be the featured speaker at tomorrow’s 36th Annual Los Angeles Mayor's Breakfast at the downtown Westin Bonaventure Hotel. It promises to be an interesting morning because Warren and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa were on opposite sides of last year’s debate over same-sex marriage.
The pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest created a stir when he was selected to deliver the invocation at President Obama’s inauguration because he had endorsed Proposition 8, which amended the state Constitution to declare that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
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Three Jewish centers in the South Bay region will hold memorial services this week for those killed in last week's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India.
The first service is tonight at Chabad of South Bay in Lomita and will include remarks from Dr. Sherwin Isenberg, an opthalmologist at UCLA who visited the Chabad Lubavitch synagogue in Mumbai the week before it came under attack, the Daily Breeze reported. A special service and dinner will be held at the Beach Cities center Friday, and a memorial service is slated Sunday at the Palos Verdes center, according to to the Daily Breeze.
Chabad of South Bay is at 2173 W. Lomita Blvd. in Lomita. Its service begins at 7:30 tonight. The Beach Cities Jewish Community Center is at 2108 Vail Ave. in Redondo Beach, and its event starts at 6 p.m. Friday. The Chabad Jewish Center of Palos Verdes will hold its service at 5 p.m. Sunday at 20841 Hawthorne Blvd., Ste. 202-203, Rancho Palos Verdes.
For more on Chabad Lubavitch, a growing Hasidic branch of Judaism that emphasizes outreach to Jews, see a report by Times staff writer Erika Hayasaki.
-- Ruben Vives
There has been growing chatter among conservative writers in recent days about the anti-Mormon tone of those protesting the passage of Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage in California. The argument: The tough talk would not be used on another religious group. In today's Times, Jonah Goldberg says: At a pro-gay-marriage rally in Los Angeles after the vote, chants of "Mormon scum!" were reported. Envelopes containing white powder have been sent to Mormon temples in California and Utah; vandals hit other temples. Lists of businesses to boycott -- essentially Mormon blacklists -- have sprung up on the Internet. The artistic director of the California Musical Theatre resigned because of pressure after it was revealed he gave $1,000 to a pro-Proposition 8 group. It's amazing. Hollywood liberals, who shout "McCarthyism!" as a first resort, see nothing wrong with this. If Jews were attacked in this way for giving too much money to a political cause, Barbra Streisand would already have a French passport.
At Mormon Times, there's the argument that the Mormon role in Proposition 8's passage has been greatly exaggerated.
--Shelby Grad
Photo: Demonstrators at an anti-Prop 8 rally gather outside the Mormon temple in West L.A. on November 6. Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times.
As Jews in Los Angeles today mourned a slain couple who had run a Mumbai Jewish center besieged by terrorists, arrangements were under way to move the former emissaries' 2-year-old son Moshe to Israel, where he will live with the nanny who rescued him and his maternal grandparents.
About 1,000 people showed up for a memorial at the West Coast headquarters of the ultra-Orthordox Chabad organization in Westwood, closing a stretch of Gayley Avenue as they paid tribute to Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his wife, Rivkah, and vowed to remain steadfast in the face of the attacks.
Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin, executive director of West Coast Chabad-Lubavitch, addressed his remarks directly to the terrorists, saying, "You thought you would do us in, but...we the Jewish people, we who believe in light...we shall continue."
To sustained applause, Marshall Grossman, the Chabad house chairman, said of the terrorists: "May they burn in hell."
Moshe's grandparents are affiliated with the world's largest Jewish orphanage, Migdal Ohr, which serves 6,500 orphaned and disadvantaged children in northern Israel, a spokesman said.
Read the rest of the story here.
--Jason Song and Ted Rohrlich
Photo: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times
The pastor of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the oldest and most prominent black congregations in Los Angeles, used church credit cards to pay for at least $122,000 in personal expenses over a three-year period, including jewelry, family vacations, clothing and auto supplies, according to documents and church sources.
The spending came to light during the course of an independent audit and Internal Revenue Service investigation into the financial affairs of the pastor, John J. Hunter; his wife, Denise Brown Hunter; and the church, according to people connected with the church, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation.
Earlier this year, field officials in the Los Angeles office of the IRS' criminal division issued summonses to two banks and a charge card company to testify and produce financial records involving Hunter and the church, documents obtained by The Times show. IRS officials would not respond to questions about the status of their investigation.
In an interview Saturday, Hunter, 51, said he has signed an agreement to repay the church, though he would not confirm the amount owed or the details of the payment plan. He also denied any criminal wrongdoing and said he was working with tax authorities to repay his back taxes.
"I may owe [the IRS] some money, but I absolutely have never done anything criminal," Hunter said. "I have nothing to hide. To the extent I have any responsibility, I have fully embraced it and all of these matters have been addressed."
Read the rest of the story here.
--Teresa Watanabe
Photo: AP
The Mormon Temple in Westwood was closed this afternoon after an envelope filled with an unidentified white powdery substance was delivered to temple employees, Los Angeles police said.
At about 3:30 p.m., a hazardous-materials team was sent to the temple at Santa Monica Boulevard and Overland Avenue, said LAPD Officer Karen Smith.
The temple has recently been the site of protests by opponents of Proposition 8, though it is not clear whether the envelope was related to protests over the gay marriage ban, officials said.
"It is unknown who it's from or who it's addressed to, or any of that," Smith said.
Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Los Angeles field office, said agents were on the scene.
A similar letter was received at the Salt Lake City Mormon Temple at about 3:30 p.m. local time today, according to Juan Becerra, a spokesman for the FBI's Salt Lake City field office.
"Our hazmat team as well as Salt Lake City Fire Department responded, collected the evidence, and it is now at the lab," he said.
Meanwhile, earlier today a gay rights activist submitted a formal complaint to the enforcement division of the California Fair Political Practices Commission alleging that the Mormon church failed to report the value of the work, including phone banks, commercials and other services, done to support the gay marriage ban.
Proposition 8, which amends the state constitution, was approved by voters last week.
--Tami Abdollah
While many religious organizations supported Proposition 8, there was one major exception in Los Angeles, according to exit polling by the Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. The center's data found that 78% of Jewish voters in L.A. opposed the ban on gay marriage and just 8% supported Prop. 8. More on the polling and the methodology here. (By the way, Leavey found that "Los Angeles Jewish voters gave Obama 78% to 20% for Republican John McCain. Among all voters in L.A., 72% voted for Obama and 24% for McCain.")
The center also looked at support for Prop. 8 citywide compared with the San Fernando Valley. Turns out the Valley opposed Prop. 8 at a slightly greater level than the city as a whole. Some interesting results here:
Cityside Valley
Yes 30% 27%
No 57% 62%
Didn't vote 1% 0%
No response 11% 10%
The Jewish Journal looks at local reaction to the Obama victory.
--Shelby Grad
Photo: Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times
Seems that for every big question science answers, it creates an even larger dilemma. Case in point -- in the quest to give infertile women a shot at motherhood, hundreds of thousands of frozen embryos, each smaller than a grain of sand, now sit in subzero freezers nationwide. What will become of them? Shari Roan meets with local couples and looks into the complicated question: Six years of frustration and heartbreak. That's how Gina Rathan recalls her attempts to become pregnant.
Finally, she and her husband, Cheddi, conceived a daughter, now 3, through in vitro fertilization. About a year later, she became pregnant with a second child, naturally. Their family was complete.
Then, a year ago, the Fountain Valley couple received a bill reminding them that their infertility journey wasn't quite over. They owed $750 to preserve three frozen embryos they'd created but hadn't used.
"I don't see them as not being life yet," says Gina Rathan, 42, a pharmaceutical sales representative. "I thought, 'How can I discard them when I have a beautiful child from that IVF cycle?' "
Are these embryos frozen cells or future life? Who decides? In November, Colorado voters will give it a shot with a ballot measure to amend the state Constitution to give an embryo the same rights as a person. New Jersey, Georgia, West Virginia and Indiana are all considering some kind of embryo legislation.
Details about what the debate in Shari's full story. Also: embryo legislation and the challenges of embryo adoption.
--Veronique de Turenne
Photo credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times
 Is Sarah Palin a wife and mother, or is she the leader of a state who's now campaigning to help lead the nation? She's both, of course, and also an evangelical Christian, which leaves some of her fellow evangelical Christians in a quandary.
How do they resolve their beliefs that the Bible requires husbands to (gently) lead, and wives to (gracefully) submit? Our own Teresa Watanabe looks for answers: In a white-steepled church along a stretch in picturesque canyon country, the preacher laid out the basic blueprint of a godly marriage: Husbands lead, wives submit.
Speaking recently before hundreds of worshipers at Placerita Baptist Church in Newhall, guest preacher Chris Mueller affirmed the view that loving male headship and gracious wifely submission are God's plan for spouses.
Placerita, like many conservative Christian churches, teaches that a wife's role is to be her husband's helpmate (Genesis), "workers at home" (Titus) and submissive to her husband in everything (Ephesians).
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Many say that biblical restrictions on women's leadership apply to church and home, not the secular world -- clearing the way for a woman to run the nation but not a congregation. And so long as Palin's husband, Todd, approves, they say, her career conforms with teachings on wifely duties.
But to others, this view contradicts biblical teaching.
 "The Palin selection is the single most dangerous event in the conscience of the Christian community in the last 10 years at least," said Doug Phillips, president of Vision Forum, a Texas-based ministry. "The unabashed, unquestioning support of Sarah Palin and all she represents marks a fundamental departure from our historic position of family priorities -- of moms being at home with young children, of moms being helpers to their husbands, the priority of being keepers of the home."
Add in the fact that Palin has a four-month-old baby, and that her teenage daughter is pregnant, and the debate gets even more complex. There's a lot of thoughtful soul-searching in Teresa's full story.
-- Veronique de Turenne
Photos: Sarah Palin (top) -- Bloomberg News; Sarah Palin's family (bottom) -- Getty Images
 It's Rosh Hashana, and to add a secular (and singular) spin to the Jewish new year -- it's 5769 -- here's an e-mail that's been working its way around the Internet in recent days, purportedly written by a DreamWorks executive's temp secretary:
"Could you tell me, who's Rosh Hashanah and why would he/she affect Kristi's meeting with KN and MC? Thanks! I really appreciate it!"
More on the e-mail at Defamer.
Meanwhile, Jews are expected to come by the hundreds today to Venice Beach for what is being billed as the "world's biggest Jewish drumming circle" and a ceremony known as tashlich: Tashlich (“casting off”) is a long-standing Jewish practice performed on the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Nashuva Tashlich is unlike any other -- hundreds of Southern California Jews create the world’s largest Jewish Drumming Circle as they celebrate the new year and symbolically cast their sins into the water.
And that's Daniel Chodos in the photo, sounding the shofar during a Rosh Hashana service last year.
-- Shelby Grad
Photo credit: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times
 We posted a photo of some books about Islam that found their way into the religion editor's in-box a few days ago, an odd and revealing mix about what's hitting the store shelves. Today, we get a peek between the pages of one of them, Mark LeVine's "Heavy Metal Islam":
Heavy metal musicians in the Islamic world are not typical careerists but musical revolutionaries putting everything at risk for little payoff beyond dreams of free expression. The price has been high, writes LeVine. Morocco initially repressed the scene, convicting 14 metal fans in 2003 as Satanists recruiting "for an international cult of devil worship." In 1997, more than 100 players and fans were jailed in Egypt, where the grand mufti demanded they repent or be executed. (They were eventually released.) That same year in Iran, homes were raided and metal fans arrested.
The full LAT review is here.
Meanwhile, J. Hubers left this comment: Wouldn't it be better to actually recommend some thoughtful books on Islam, ones that could help people understand what Islam is actually about? There are many. Unfortunately the popular press is more interested in sensationalism, so people read this dribble instead.
For those who are actually interested in discovering something approximating the truth about Islam I would recommend: Islam: Religion, History and Civilization by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University.
Done.
-- Veronique de Turenne
The New Yorker dropped a quiet bomb with that crazy Obama cover, so we figured we'd add to the conversation with a trio of books about Islam received by our religion editor. There's "Islam: The Religion and the People," which is an intro to the religion; "They Must Be Stopped," which purports to take on radical Islam; and "Heavy Metal Islam," which is exactly what it sounds like.
-- Veronique de Turenne
 We're running a (completely unscientific and maybe even meaningless) poll along with our story about faith in California, and we couldn't help notice that the numbers not only don't match the findings in the Pew study, they run counter to them.
At this particular moment -- people keep voting so we can only speak for right now -- of the 19,452 people who have weighed in, 60% say they don't believe in God at all. According to the study, 71% nationwide say they absolutely do believe in God.
Call us skeptical, but we think an e-mail may be making its way through the Godless (and godless) Internet, urging voters to skew the Pew study.
Have you voted yet? Is there a God?
(And btw, that's former Dodger great Orel Hershiser in the photo, clearly -- and famously -- a believer.)
--Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times
 Every time shoppers leave an outlet of Los Angeles-based Forever 21, they walk away with a bit of spirituality along with their sequined tunic (only $22.24!). A story by the Times' Leslie Earnest notes that Don and Jin Sook Chang, owners of the fast-growing apparel chain, are devout Christians who often attend 5:30 a.m. prayer services and have given millions to their church. Evidence of their strong religious convictions can also be found at the bottom of every Forever 21 shopping bag:
Each bag is inscribed with "John 3:16" -- the New Testament passage that says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life."
That may seem odd to some but not to those who consider shopping a religious experience.
-- Jesus Sanchez
Photo: Stefano Paltera/Los Angeles Times
Sex, evolution, Harry Potter and Hitler -- all in all a pretty good haul. But wait -- what connects "Best-Loved Mexican Cooking" to God? Could it have anything to do with the fact that our religion editor's last name is "Padilla"?
--Veronique de Turenne
 After Friday night's commencement ceremony at Daniel Murphy High, there will be no new crop of freshman to replace the graduates of the Catholic boys academy. The small Fairfax district school, whose graduates include current L.A. councilman Bernard Parks, is closing after half a century.
Officials of the Los Angeles Archdiocese blamed falling enrollment, down to about 230 last year, when they announced the closure last year. But many school supporters said Daniel Murphy is the victim of a financial squeeze as the district seeks to pay off the massive $660 million settlement with victims of clergy abuse. "We don't want another set of victims," support group President Robert Barner said last fall. "There is an opportunity here to send a strong message to young people and families throughout the archdiocese that we value children and that you will not make them pay for past mistakes."
-- Jesus Sanchez
No, not a baseball diamond in an Iowa corn field, though perhaps just as far-fetched. In Adelanto, a high desert town founded by the guy who invented the electric iron, a 60-ton marble statue of Quan yin anchors a budding Buddhist meditation center. Louis Sahagun visited the man -- and monk -- behind the dream:
Monk Thich Dang "Tom" Phap's routine starts with early morning
meditation and yard work. When 11 a.m. rolls around, there he is,
sandal-shod and in orange robes, a gold shoulder clasp gleaming in the
desert sun as he stands in prayer before the 60-ton white marble statue
of Quan yin.
After lunch, he whacks weeds, washes the statue and naps. In the late
afternoon, he has a dinner of soup and rice followed by meditation and
prayer. At 9 p.m., Phap calls it a day.
"I pray for Quan yin to help everyone else in the world," said the
67-year-old monk, who lives in a modest trailer beside the statue.
"Then I pray she helps me."
Reverently admiring the statue -- serene of face, with half-closed eyes
and flowing robes -- he added in broken English, "Soon we will have
grass and flowers and air-conditioning. This I believe. Yes!"
More about the man and the saint with magical powers in Louis' full story. A lovely photo gallery here.
--Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times
Those two LAUSD honchos who did nothing when a student reported
she was sexually abused by a substitute teacher are back on the
job. That's right: They've been criminally charged, yet they're back at the school. Richard Winton and Howard Blume explain what on Earth is going on.
Why did Inglewood police shoot and kill an unarmed man on Sunday? The cops involved say they heard gunshots, but neither weapons nor bullets were found. Police search for reasons but the community demands answers. Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Hector Becerra have the story.
Game 5 of the series is tomorrow and Kobe says he'll be ready. To do what? Mike Bresnahan visits with the Lakers' injured MVP.
The UCLA snooping scandal -- still growing. Sixty-eight current and former workers, including four doctors, pried into medical records that were none of their business. Lawanda J. Jackson, the employee indicted by a grand jury last month, looked at 61 separate files, including those of celebs and her fellow employees. More details from Charles Ornstein.
LAX to Florida for $18? Great travel deals are out there, if you know where to look, says Peter Pae.
Visions of the Virgin Mary in the Mojave Desert, where the faithful
have headed for 20 years for Our Lady of the Rock gatherings. The
Catholic Church isn't thrilled, but attendees say they find solace. Paloma Esquivel makes a visit. (And a photo gallery -- Virgin Mary in a sandwich, anyone? -- here.)
Jimmy Fallon's going to take over for Conan when the time comes. Oh -- and a new "90210" series, a "Boston Legal" pickup, and a "Family Guy" spin-off. Matea Gold and Maria Elena Fernandez have details of NBC's fall lineup.
Fabulist James Frey ("A Million Little Pieces") writes a crummy novel. David Ulin has the review.
--Veronique de Turenne
Photos: Los Angeles Times
 Asked - and answered - in this week's issue of Newsweek. It's the second year in a row the weekly has taken on rabbinical pulchritude, pegged to (why, exactly?) the annual Passover holiday.
L.A.'s own Rabbi David Wolpe of Temple Sinai (pictured at right) takes top honors again. In fact, the City of Angels dominates the list. Are SoCal rabbis just cuter than the rest, or is that the list-makers are from LA?
To see Rabbi Wople in action, check him out in a debate about whether God exists. Criteria and this year's list are here.
--Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Anacleto Rapping / Los Angeles Times
More jail problems for the O.C.: A brawl in the Men's Central Jail leads to a lockdown. LAT
Church in Panorama City damaged by Molotov cocktail. LADN
Santa Monica Ferris Wheel: one bid ($50K) and two retractions. Four days left. EBay
The blog of unnecessary quotation marks. Because it's funny and "quirky" and there's "something for  everyone." And that's enough unnecessary quotation marks for "one post." (OK, now I'm done.)
State flower growers wilt under competitive pressure from imports. Ventura County Star
Smile. The Skunk Cam is watching. [ sic ]
Remember the request line on KGIL 1260. VanNuys Boomers
--Veronique de Turenne & Jesus Sanchez
Photo: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times
A sampling of books sent to the religion editor so far this April. (Next time: religious swag.)
--Veronique de Turenne
 So Pope Benedict XVI is coming to the U.S. for a visit next week and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is ready. With a video. It's right there on the home page, a zippy little number with lots of quick cuts, zooming lens work and jolly music.
The focus is the annual Blessing of the Animals, so in addition to mariachis and palm trees, His Holiness will get a glimpse of cats, dogs, snakes, birds, bunnies, a ceremonial cow and a really big lizard. The video ends with a series of locals saying a genuinely heartfelt "Welcome, Pope Benedict, to the United States!"
Though the Pope's itinerary keeps him on the East Coast, the L.A. Archdiocese plans to show its video on a Jumbotron at Nationals Stadium in D.C., before the papal Mass. Think it'll make it to YouTube?
--Veronique de Turenne
Photo: AP
 With today’s 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the American Jewish Committee noted that King received its American Liberties Medallion in 1965 and recalled how the organization has jointly worked with black groups on a variety of social issues.
Members of the Los Angeles branch of the committee joined representatives from Brotherhood Crusade, Southern Christian Leadership Conference and other African American groups to visit King’s grave in Atlanta. There they recited the the Kaddish, the traditional Jewish prayer of mourning. “May His great Name grow exalted and sanctified,” begins the prayer.
When King received the medallion at the committee’s annual meeting, he delivered a powerful and poignant address on the struggle for civil rights. It can be heard and read here.
--Steve Padilla
Photo: AP
Curtis Richardson, a 13-year-old boy, was standing on this street corner last week when he was shot to death. Today, activist Eddie Jones, center, led a group in prayer at the same spot. The group also walked through the neighborhood and handed out leaflets urging people to take part in a 40-hour moratorium on violence in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The 40-year anniversary of King's assassination is tomorrow.
-- Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times
 Graduates of a nine-week course in the Psalms come to see the ancient Hebrew poetry as a path that leads to God, K. Connie Kang reports.
Why do some people find the Psalms such a powerful vehicle for prayer? Theologians say the answer lies in their vast variety, emotional honesty and occasional bluntness.
"What's so wonderful about the Psalms is that they're a keyboard that plays every song," said the Rev. Ron Rolheiser, a Roman Catholic priest and an expert on praying the Psalms.
The language of the Psalms is so powerful that, whether or not you're a believer, inspiration and introspection await in even the most cursory reading. It's a lovely piece -- and Connie's last -- as she's retiring after four decades as a journalist. Her full story here.
-- Veronique de Turenne
Photo: J. Paul Getty Museum
We're on to Round Two in the escalating war between Anonymous, a shadowy Web-based group, and Scientology, the controversial religion Anonymous has been targeting since mid-January. The first salvo, an eerie YouTube video introducing Anonymous and stating its anti-Scientology agenda, got worldwide attention. (And over 2.5 million views so far.)
Now the church has responded with a video of its own.
Protests, name-calling, and denial of service attacks sparked charges and counter-charges on both sides. David Sarno of the Times' Web Scout blog went out to Hollywood over the weekend and watched as church and Anonymous butted heads. Most noticeable was a series of large metal frameworks that had been
erected and decorated with large rainbows of balloons and banners
bearing church messages: "Love and Help Children," "Don't be
promiscuous" and perhaps most visibly, the name of a
Scientology-related book for better living, "The Way to Happiness."
Scientologists obtained permits to close streets and block access to an event they held, Sarno reports. Anonymous hired a plane to fly overhead for an hour, towing a banner. Read the full post here.
The church claims to know the identities of Anonymous organizers, including local residents. From the N.Y. Post: Ryan Benno from Valencia, Calif., is shown, as well as Jonathan Brown from Tarzana, Calif., who is making a goofy face in his photo, and Sean Carasov from Los Angeles. None of the men in the videos could be reached for comment.
A spokesperson for the Church of Scientology said, "We absolutely made the videos."
"We have researchers that have found these men. When you get death
threats and bomb threats directly going after the church, we don't take
it lightly."
The full video response to Anonymous after the jump.
--Veronique de Turenne
Photo -- David Sarno / Los Angeles Times
Read on »
 The recent return to downtown living isn't just lofts and lattes, there's a generous serving of God in the mix. Residents are flocking to new houses of worship and -- in the case of New City Church -- a restaurant, to fulfill their spiritual needs. Times writer K. Connie Kang reports:
The parishioners, who gathered for a recent service improvised in an Italian restaurant near Walt Disney Concert Hall, included some local loft dwellers.
About two dozen adults -- some with squirming toddlers in tow -- spent half an hour visiting with one another over yogurt and fresh fruit before the Sunday morning worship. They were white and black, Asian and Latino, well-to-do and down and out.
"If I am not living with God being first in my life, I am going to end up pushing a cart," said Jason Johnson, a Union Rescue Mission resident who is enrolled in a program to get back on his feet. He is fortunate, he said, to have a welcoming church within walking distance.
Longtime downtown residents are grateful, and newcomers are surprised to find the growing and vibrant spiritual scene. Kang has the full story here.
-- Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Carlos Chaves / Los Angeles Times
 What's Palm Sunday without the fronds? A blight among the Canary palms in the county has religious leaders fretting as the annual rite draws near. Paloma Esquivel reports:
Norma Foster, president and Emmy-nominated producer of the Hollywood Bowl Easter Sunrise Service, was in crisis mode this week. There were no palm fronds to be found. A frond famine that left Jewish families scrambling last fall for greenery during the annual Sukkot holiday has struck again. This time it’s affecting Christians as they prepare for the Easter holidays.
For years faithful celebrants turned to Los Angeles' tree trimmers for free palm fronds used at Easter and, of course, Palm Sunday (this Sunday). But since last year, officials with the Los Angeles Department of Public Works said they can’t provide freebies because of funding problems and because a fungus — fusarium wilt — plague that can be spread by trimming tools makes cutting the fronds a problem. The wilt afflicts Canary Island palms.
(More on the next page)
Photo - Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Read on »
 She's a Quaker, which means she's a pacifist. Nothing too scary there. But when Marianne Kearney-Brown added one little word to the California loyalty oath, she was fired from her job teaching at a Bay Area college.
Lots of surprises -- California has a loyalty oath? (Yes, and it's been a problem in the Bay Area before.) The United Auto Workers represents teaching assistants? Jerry Brown got involved?
All this and more as Richard C. Paddock reveals the fateful word that was her undoing, and why it could happen again. (Or to you.) Full story here.
-- Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Robert Durrell / Los Angeles Times
They're Anonymous and they're out to get Scientology.
It started earlier this year, when this eerie video warning (scroll) appeared on YouTube. Then NPR jumped in with a story, the group did a Q&A over at TorrentFreak, Wired magazine jumped all over the news, and our own Tony Pierce blogged a masked protest by the group near his home.
Anonymous, which has been called everything from script kiddies and creative crusaders to a shadowy online hit squad, has done more than just make threats. In January, it launched a denial-of-service attack on Scientology's website. And accidentally took out the web site of a Dutch school.
There are layers beneath the layers of this story - constitutional protections rights among them. David Sarno peels the onion.
What's next?
"Hello Ralph Nader, we are Anonymous."
--Veronique de Turenne
It's the weekend, right? Chores, errands, leftover work, the dog handing you his leash. Or you could try it Brad Karelius' way. Louis Sahagun tells his remarkable story.
-- Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times
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