INTERFAITH EVENT WILL HONOR KING\Tolerance, racial issues to be covered.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Participants in the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council's eighth annual Martin Luther King Jr. memorial service Monday at St. Stephen's Lutheran Church will honor the memory of the Baptist minister who led the civil rights movement.

A choir under the direction of the Rev. Andrae Crouch, from Christ Memorial Church of God in Christ, will perform during the service, which will begin at 7 p.m.

The interfaith council, formed in 1964, represents 275 congregations of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and other faiths, said Rhetta Alexander, a council spokeswoman.

"We wanted to demonstrate that the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was not just for blacks to reflect and honor (his civil rights work). It's a holiday for all races," said the Rev. Barry Smedberg, executive director of the interfaith council.

Speakers at the observance, marking what would have been King's 67th birthday, also likely will address the status of race relations and the events of the past year that have caused ethnic and cultural tension and polarization.

Alexander said the observance also will spotlight King's philosophy of nonviolent means to bring about social change.

Alfred Wolf, rabbi emeritus of Wilshire Boulevard Temple, said society must aspire to true political and economic equality, equal opportunities, and do away with all forms of discrimination, particularly in employment, in order to break down the barriers that cause racial strife.

"We must change our perception of our fellow human beings, so we don't look first and foremost at the person's color and ethnicity, but . . . accept each person by his or her human worth," Wolf said.

A spiritual leader at the oldest synagogue in Los Angeles, Wolf will be a featured speaker at the King observance.

Smedberg recalled his college days in Texas, where he saw "colored only" signs marking segregated restaurants and drinking fountains. If King were still alive, he speculated, the civil rights leader would be heartened to see many overt traces of racial animosity gone, but likely would be disappointed that some of the subtle expressions remain, Smedberg said.

"It's come a long way, but at the same time, we're still not there. Whether it ever will be is another story," he mused.

"Obviously, there are still people who discriminate. You're always going to have folks who aren't comfortable with people from another ethnic group. Just look at Bosnia," Smedberg said. "It's still the issue of: 'They're not one of us,' " he said.

In other King Day observances:

Children's choirs will perform at 7:30 p.m. today at Adat Ari El Synagogue, 12020 Burbank Blvd. in North Hollywood. Joining young singers from the temple will be the children's choir from a Pacoima congregation, Greater Community Missionary Baptist Church.

A free gospel music concert to honor King's legacy will be staged at 5 p.m. Sunday at First Presbyterian Church of North Hollywood, 5000 Colfax Ave. The congregation will be joined by the choir from a South Central Los Angeles parish, St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church.

Civil rights leader Joe Hicks, former executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles, will speak at a King Day observance sponsored by the Burbank Human Relations Council, at 7 p.m. Wednesday at First United Methodist Church, 700 N. Glenoaks Blvd.

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Photo Barry Smedberg, left, and the Rev. Kapp Johnson, host pastor, plan a Martin Luther King Jr. Day service. Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News