Events

PLANT SALE: The California Native Plants Society hosts its annual fall plant sale at 9:15 a.m. for members and 10 a.m. for the public Saturday at the Casa del Prado courtyard (across from west entrance of Natural History Museum) in Balboa Park, San Diego. Books, posters, seeds, plants and advice from experts. Call (619) 685-7321 or e-mail info@cnpssd.org.

BOTANICAL TOUR: Mission San Luis Rey offers a botanical tour at 10 a.m. Oct. 20 led by Friar James Lockman, executive director of the mission, who is also a horticulture expert. Gain insight into the historic and notable plants and trees important in the Mission era. The Mission is at 4050 Mission Ave. in Oceanside. Also included in the tour are some areas not generally accessible to the public. This includes the Meditation Gardens, the Friars' Garden, the Historic Well House, and a climb to the choir loft in the Old Mission Church. Cost is $7. Visit www.sanluisrey.org or call (760) 757-3651.

NO-LAWN WORKSHOP: Landscape designer Pamela Homfelt will hold "Landscapes Minus Lawn?," a free mini-workshop, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Oct. 28 at the City of San Diego Environmental Services "Green Building," 9601 Ridgehaven Court, Kearny Mesa. She will lead a tour of the Ridgehaven demonstration garden, formerly a landscape of lawns and foundation hedges. No reservations are required; a forecast of rain cancels the event. Call (619) 741-1090 or visit www.sdhortsoc.org.

HOME-BUYER CLASSES: Faith Based Community Development Corp. presents one-day Homebuyer Education classes monthly at 2195 Oceanside Blvd., Oceanside. Down payment assistance from $40,000 to $180,000 is available. Class size is limited. To register, call (760) 721-2117, Ext. 302 or visit www.fbcdc.org.

Online

ORCHIDS & ONIONS: The San Diego Architectural Foundation has gone online with its "People's Choice" voting for the 2006 Orchids & Onions awards, San Diego's awards program for the built environment. Voting is open to the public and will take place through Oct. 31. The public may vote on nominations by visiting www.signonsandiego.com/orchidsandonions/, which hosts a link to the foundation's Web site. Vote on whether you think each project is an Orchid (a good design) or an Onion (not visually appealing), or if you have no opinion. Additionally, voters can post comments about the projects on the Web site blog. For more about the foundation or the Orchids & Onions program, visit www.sdarchitecture.org or e-mail to orchidsonions@sdarchitecture.org.

Meetings

San Diego Cactus and Succulent Society: Meets at noon Saturday, Room 101, Casa del Prado, Balboa Park. Dr. Art Cooley will discuss the latest findings on global warming. Kym Hunter will report on Great Britain's Community Carbon Reduction Programme. Michael Buckner will present new trends in xeriscaping. Starting at 10 a.m. members offer rare and unusual plants for sale. Call (760) 758-7042.

California Native Plant Society: Meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Room 104, Casa del Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego. Guest speaker is Rick Halsey of the California Chaparral Field Institute, who is a chaparral ecologist, writer and director of the California Chaparral Field Institute. He is author of "Fire, Chaparral, and Survival in Southern California," which will be available for purchase. Call (619) 685-7321; visit www.cnpssd.org; e-mail info@cnpssd.org.

MiraCosta Horticulture Club: Meets 12:45 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Alta Vista Gardens at 1270 Vale Terrace Drive, Vista (on the Hilltop). Karen England of Edgehill Herb Farm will speak on Herb of the Year 2006: scented geraniums. She is past president of the Vista Garden Club and board member of the International Herb Association. Karen and her husband, David, own and operate a Web-based herb business, www.edgehillherbfarm.com, from their home in Vista. Workshop, refreshments and a plant raffle. Visit http://www.gardencentral.org/californiagc/miracosta/ or call (760) 729-8172, (760) 721-3281.

Carlsbad African Violet Society: Meets 10 a.m. Oct. 23 at the Vista Public Library, 700 Eucalyptus St., to set up, socialize and buy raffle tickets. Culture Class is "Turkey Necks" by Audrey Hanthorn. Video is "Everything You Need to Know About African Violets" by Audrey Hanthorn. Business meeting at 12:45 p.m. Call (760) 433-4641.

Carlsbad Garden Club: Meets 1 p.m. Nov. 3 at Heritage Hall, 2650 Garfield St., Carlsbad. Sergio of Plantplay Nursery in Carlsbad will discuss garden containers, from selecting the pot, choosing the best plants for dramatic effects, placing them properly and how to maintain them. Garden-related items for sale and light refreshments. Call (760) 931-9863 or www.carlsbadgardenclub.org.

Ramona Garden Club: Meets at noon Nov. 8 at the Ramona Community Library Resource Room. Judi Brady, co-owner of Rusty Acres Herb Farm in Rainbow, will speak on growing lavender and its culinary and healing attributes. Also present at this meeting will be George Speer, president of Palomar District of the California Garden Clubs Inc. He will discuss the benefits, activities and functions of the Palomar district at the state and national levels. Call (760) 789-8880 or visit www.RamonaGardenClub.com.

American Begonia Society, Mable Corwin Branch: Meets at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 12 at the Encinitas Community Center, 1140 Oakcrest Park Drive. Education about begonias will be presented with beautiful pictures. A harvest fair follows. Bring items/plants/produce to barter, sell or share. Call (760) 753-3977.

San Diego Horticultural Society: Meets at 6 p.m. Jan. 8 in the Surfside Race Place at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on Jimmy Durante Boulevard. in Del Mar. Dr. David Kellum will discuss "Bugs: the Good, the Bad and the Invasives." Come learn about the bad guys and how they get here, then meet some good guys: the beneficials that help police the world of insects. Plant Forum, opportunity drawing. Call (760) 295-7089 or visit www.sdhortsoc.org.

Classes

At Walter Andersen nurseries: These free classes are offered at 9:30 a.m. Saturdays at the Poway location, 12755 Danielson Court. Call (858) 513-4900 or visit www.walterandersen.com. Show up early and have coffee on us!

Saturday: California natives with Carol Fuller, author of "Fuller's Finds"

Oct. 21: Groundcovers and erosion control: Get ready for winter!

Oct. 28: Fall rose care

Nov. 4: Fall Decorating Ideas with Sharon May, author of "May in the Garden"

Nov. 11: Ornamental grasses with Randy Crow from Green Meadow Growers

Nov. 18: Tillandsias and bromeliads with Ken Andersen

Dec. 2: Houseplant care and culture

Dec. 9: Pruning roses (first class)

Dec. 16: Caring for poinsettias, living Christmas trees and cut trees

Dec. 30: Fruit tree pruning

Jan. 6: Rose pruning and bare root roses

Jan. 13: Fruit tree pruning

Jan. 20: Rose pruning

Jan. 27: Fruit tree pruning

At Home Depot: These free how-to clinics are offered in October. Register at your local store. Call your local store for details or visit www.homedepotclinics.com:

7 p.m. Thursdays (except Oct. 26): Painting Touch Up and Technique

10 a.m. Saturdays: Family Fire Safety

1 p.m. Sundays (except Oct. 29): Creating an Energy Efficient Home

Event Weekend (Oct. 26-28): Winter preparation

7 p.m. Oct. 26: Winterizing Your Lawn

1 p.m. Oct. 29: Creating an Energy Efficient Home

Do-It-Herself Workshops:

7 p.m. Oct. 23: Empower Yourself: Basic Home Repair and Home Safety

At Lowe's: These free how-to clinics are offered in October. Register at your local store or online at Lowes.com/Clinics. Contact your local store for details:

10 a.m. Saturday: Build and Grow Clinics for Kids: Firetruck

11 a.m. Saturdays: Paint and Update the Exterior of Your Home

Noon Saturdays: How to Prepare Your Lawn for Fall and Winter

Noon Saturdays: Paint Decorative Finishes on Trim and Moulding

1 p.m. Saturdays: Save Money and Save Energy

Send Home & Garden items to Features Editor Laura Groch, North County Times, 207 E. Pennsylvania Ave., Escondido, CA 92025, fax to (760) 745-3769, or e-mail to features@nctimes.com.

Evangelicals, Catholics join to target abortion

RICHARD N. OSTLING

Associated Press

Again this year, abortion, with its religious overtones, is playing out in the political campaigns.

After the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973, many evangelical Protestants became energized about this and other moral questions, working to an unprecedented extent alongside Roman Catholics.

What are U.S. religious blocs' sizes -- and potential political clout?

A Baylor University survey calls white evangelicals the biggest bloc (33.6 percent of Americans) with the Catholics in third place (21.2 percent), just edged by the white "mainline" Protestants (22.1 percent).

University of Akron polling also ranks evangelicals first (33.4 percent if Latino Protestants and evangelicals within mainline denominations are included) but puts Catholics second and mainliners third. Black Protestants rank fourth.

That's the context for the latest declaration from Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT), which denounces abortion as well as euthanasia, assisted suicide and stem-cell research that destroys human embryos.

ECT is an unofficial group convened by Catholic priest Richard John Neuhaus of First Things magazine and Baptist prison evangelist Charles Colson. The statement, "That They May Have Life," ran in Neuhaus' magazine.

The Catholic participants, led by Cardinal Avery Dulles, affirm official church teaching.

The evangelical endorsers represent only themselves but they're influential, including: megachurch pastors Bill Hybels and Rick Warren; respected theologians including J.I. Packer; and the heads of Wheaton College and Calvin, Fuller, Gordon-Conwell and other seminaries. Family Research Council's Tony Perkins is the only "religious right" activist involved.

One signer, Christianity Today editor David Neff, says abortion is willful taking of innocent human life but ECT errs politically by calling it "murder."

ECT contends that abortion is inescapably a public issue and if Christians seek to influence fellow citizens on moral concerns it's neither theocracy nor imposing of religion.

The statement cites "scriptural truth" in Psalm 139:13 ("you knit me together in my mother's womb"), the Ten Commandments ("you shall not kill") and God's creation of human life in Genesis.

ECT contends there's no reasonable dispute that biologically, human life begins at conception, so the issue becomes the state at which a life has rights that require respect. ECT's answer: "Every human life is, from conception, created by God and is infinitely precious in his sight."

Countering that is the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, which unites mainline Protestant agencies of the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ and United Methodist Church; non-Orthodox Jews; Unitarians; and others.

The Rev. Carlton Veazey, coalition president, says ECT ignores the diversity of Christians' beliefs. He sees no consensus among scientists or theologians regarding when life begins.

As Veazey reads the Bible, "freedom of choice is at the very heart of what it means to be a human being," and "most Christians, in my experience, think the decision properly belongs to a woman."

While leaders argue, different U.S. religious populations largely agree with each other in University of Chicago polling reported in "The Truth About Conservative Christians" by Andrew Greeley and Michael Hout. (The authors think religious differences make problematic any evangelical-Catholic alliance.)

They say strong majorities among white evangelicals, Catholics, white mainline Protestants and black Protestants all favor legalized abortion in three situations: when a mother's health is seriously endangered, there's a strong chance of serious defect in the baby or pregnancy resulted from rape.

But all four groups express mere minority support for abortion in other situations allowed by the Supreme Court.

In each instance, evangelicals' numbers are the most conservative, mainliners' the most liberal, blacks and Catholics in between.