SOAPBOX SUNDAY SOCIETY OPENS PULPIT TO PASSION, POLEMICS.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer

NORTH HILLS - In an unusual church service Sunday in the San Fernando Valley, parishioners sounded off about utility deregulation, the death penalty and the Sunshine Canyon Landfill.

The Sepulveda Unitarian-Universalist Society held its annual Soapbox Sunday, modeled after gatherings in England's Hyde Park, where orators get up and speak their minds.

``It's our tribute to the Fourth of July,'' said Susan Singh, moderator of the event. ``It's a celebration of our independence and our Constitution. The Bill of Rights gives us the right to free speech and to worship as we choose.''

Just about anything goes at the Soapbox except for political endorsements of a candidate, Singh explained.

Unitarian-Universalists include atheists, agnostics, Christians and Jews who practice free faith and promote social justice.

Some past notable Unitarians and Universalists, which merged in 1961, include John Adams, Louisa May Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The liberal, creedless religion has more than 1,000 churches including the one on Haskell Avenue. The 100-member congregation, which refers to itself as ``The Onion'' after the shape of its church, was the first in its denomination to declare itself against the death penalty.

On Sunday instead of the traditional hymns, parishioners sang ``My Country 'Tis of Thee,'' ``Yankee Doodle'' and ``America the Beautiful.'' And instead of passages from the Bible they read ``Freedom'' by John Milton, an English poet who promoted religious tolerance.

About a dozen church members came forward Sunday to express their pet peeves about universal health care, gun control, accessibility for the handicapped and land mines.

``We wish to raise our voice against the whole issue of vengeance and the business of killing people,'' said Grace Ehlmann, who urged her fellow parishioners to sign an anti-death penalty petition.

Yolanda Yale blasted the juvenile justice system.

``Why do we leave less and less room for redemption for young people, who are in the midst of growing and learning who they are?'' she said. ``I am horrified by it.''

Bob Lovka denounced the current energy crisis as ``unabashed corporate greed.'' He urged congregants to pressure their representatives to protect consumers.

Dalya Frazier, president of the church's policy-making board, railed against the proposed expansion of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill in the Granada Hills area.

``This could still be stopped,'' said Frazier, who moved from the area because she claimed toxins from the dump compromised her immune system. ``It's not too late to stop it,'' she said.

The church board recently voted to institute The Welcoming Congregation, a program educating its members on issues and concerns that face gays, lesbians and bisexuals. The program, which goes into effect in September, is already in practice at many Unitarian-Universalists churches to affirm and broaden acceptance of that segment of the population.

Angie Whiteman, who grew up in a Christian and Jewish household, has been a church member for five years.

``I like the open-mindedness and freedom to explore thoughts and ideas,'' the Granada Hills resident said. ``In a Christian church they believe in Jesus as a deity. Here we don't. He may be a special, good man but we don't believe in him as a god.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo: (1) Congregants of the Sepulveda Unitarian-Universalist Society listen at the annual Soapbox Sunday open-mike event.

(2) North Hollywood's Grace Ehlmann uses her three minutes to challenge the death penalty.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer