Orange County, California Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Religion=== In 2014, the county had 1,075 religious organizations, the sixth-highest total among all US counties (matching its status as the sixth-most-populous county in the US).<ref>{{cite web |title=Social Capital Variables Spreadsheet for 2014 |url=https://aese.psu.edu/nercrd/community/social-capital-resources/social-capital-variables-for-2014/social-capital-variables-spreadsheet-for-2014 |website=PennState College of Agricultural Sciences, Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development |date=December 8, 2017 |access-date=December 30, 2019 |archive-date=December 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231001016/https://aese.psu.edu/nercrd/community/social-capital-resources/social-capital-variables-for-2014/social-capital-variables-spreadsheet-for-2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> Orange County is the base for several religious organizations: *The [[Newport Beach California Temple]], one of four temples operated by [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] in Southern California. *[[Christ Cathedral (Garden Grove, California)|Christ Cathedral]] (formerly Reverend [[Robert Schuller]]'s Crystal Cathedral) is the [[cathedral]] of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange]], located in [[Garden Grove, California|Garden Grove]]. *University Synagogue, one of the world's largest [[Reconstructionist Judaism|Reconstructionist]] [[Jewish]] [[synagogue]]s located in [[Irvine, California|Irvine]] to serve the sizable Jewish community in the area, especially students at nearby [[University of California, Irvine]]. *Beth Jacob Congregation of Irvine, the largest [[Orthodox Jewish]] synagogue between [[Los Angeles]] and [[San Diego]], serving several thousand families. *Temple Beth El of South Orange County, located in [[Aliso Viejo]], and built in 2001 to serve the fast-growing Jewish community in Orange County, this {{cvt|65,000|ft2|m2}} synagogue can seat 1,400 congregants and is the largest by size in Orange County, and is one of the largest places of worship in the state in terms of size. Temple Beth El is affiliated with both the [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] and [[Conservative Judaism]] denominations.<ref name="LA Times Beth El">{{cite news |title=O.C.'s Largest Synagogue Set to Open |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jul-23-me-25737-story.html |access-date=14 May 2022 |agency=LA Times |work=Los Angeles Times |archive-date=May 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220514160045/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jul-23-me-25737-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref> *Temple Bat Yahm of Newport Beach, is the largest Reform synagogue in [[Newport Beach]] and serves more than 500 families. *[[Chabad|Chabad of Orange County]], serves more than 100,000 Jewish families at more than of a dozen of its synagogues and community centers located in Irvine, Laguna Woods, Newport Beach, Aliso Viejo, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Clemente, North Irvine, Laguna Niguel, Yorba Linda, Tustin, Dana Point, Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach. These synagogues adhere to the [[Chabad-Lubavitch]] school of [[Orthodox Judaism]], but all Jews are welcome to worship regardless of denomination or background.<ref name="JFedOC">{{cite web |title=Jewish Congregations in and around Orange County |url=https://jewishorangecounty.org/oc-congregations |website=Jewish Federation of Orange County |access-date=14 May 2022 |archive-date=May 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520043930/https://www.jewishorangecounty.org/oc-congregations |url-status=live}}</ref> *Temple Beth Emet of Anaheim, is the only synagogue in [[Anaheim]] and was the first [[Conservative Jewish]] synagogue to open in Orange County back in 1955. *[[Islamic Center of Irvine]], which has raised over $5.5 million for its expansion project (as of October 2018).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.icoi.net/about/newsite-update/ |title=New Site Update - The Islamic Center of Irvine |website=Icoi.net |access-date=October 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002215106/http://www.icoi.net/about/newsite-update/ |archive-date=October 2, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> *Islamic Institute of Orange County, an Islamic Center in Orange County, located in [[Anaheim]] and founded in 1991.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iioc.com/mission-vision/ |title=mission-vision β Islamic Institute of Orange County - Masjid Omar AlFarouk |website=Iioc.com |access-date=October 2, 2018 |archive-date=October 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002214935/https://www.iioc.com/mission-vision/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> *The Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove, established in 1976 and one of the largest [[mosques]] in the United States. *Islamic Center of Santa Ana (ICSA), which opened a new $2.6 million facility in 2017.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://icsamasjid.net/about/ |title=About Us β ICSA Masjid |website=icsamasjid.net |access-date=October 2, 2018 |archive-date=October 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002215018/http://icsamasjid.net/about/ |url-status=live}}</ref> *Orange County Islamic Foundation, located in [[Mission Viejo]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ocif.org/the-organization/ |title=The Organization β Orange County Islamic Foundation |website=Ocif.org |access-date=October 2, 2018 |archive-date=October 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002215222/http://www.ocif.org/the-organization/ |url-status=live}}</ref> *The Islamic Educational Center of Orange County (IECOC), located in [[Costa Mesa]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://iecoc.org/about-us/start-of-iecoc/ |title=Start of IECOC - IECOC - Islamic Educational Center of Orange County |website=Iecoc.org |access-date=October 2, 2018 |archive-date=October 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002215249/http://iecoc.org/about-us/start-of-iecoc/ |url-status=live}}</ref> *Forty Martyrs Armenian Apostolic Church,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://40manoug.org/ |title=Forty Martyrs Armenian Apostolic Church |access-date=July 11, 2016 |archive-date=February 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216015758/http://40manoug.org/ |url-status=live}}</ref> located in Santa Ana is one of two [[Armenian Apostolic Church]], otherwise referred to as "Armenian Orthodox Church" or "Gregorian Church" in Orange County. *St. Mary Armenian Church,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://stmaryarmenianchurch.com/ |title=stmaryarmenianchurch |access-date=May 17, 2019 |archive-date=May 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517145712/https://stmaryarmenianchurch.com/ |url-status=live}}</ref> located in Costa Mesa is one of two [[Armenian Apostolic Church]], otherwise referred to as "Armenian Orthodox Church" or "Gregorian Church" in Orange County. *[[Family International]], also known as "The Children of God", was founded in 1968 in [[Huntington Beach]] by [[David Berg]]. *[[Chuck Smith (pastor)|Chuck Smith]], early leader in the [[Jesus movement|Jesus People movement]] and founder of [[Calvary Chapel]] in [[Costa Mesa]]. *[[Pao Fa Temple]] in Irvine is one of the largest [[Buddhist]] monasteries and temples in the United States. *''[[The Purpose Driven Life]]'' author [[Rick Warren]] and his [[Saddleback Church]] (the largest church in California) are in [[Lake Forest, California|Lake Forest]]. *The [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange]] headed by Bishop [[Kevin Vann]]. There are about 1.04 million Catholics in Orange County.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rcbo.org/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=155 |title=The History of the Diocese of Orange County |publisher=The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915233240/http://www.rcbo.org/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=155 |archive-date=September 15, 2008}}</ref> *[[Trinity Broadcasting Network]] began as Channel 40 in [[Tustin]], now in Costa Mesa. *Monasteries of the [[Vedanta Society of Southern California|Vedanta Society]] and [[St. Michael's Abbey (Orange County, California)|St. Michael's Abbey]] are located in [[Trabuco Canyon]]. *The [[Vineyard Christian Fellowship]] movement began in Orange County. *The [[Jain Center of Southern California]] in [[Buena Park]], largest center for followers of [[Jain]] faith, originally started by [[Jains]] from [[India]] *The [[Sikh]] Center of Orange County located in Santa Ana *The Sikh Center of Buena Park β [[Gurdwara]] Singh Sabha *Harvest Orange County in Irvine. Also holds the Harvest Crusades in Anaheim Stadium. *[[Living Stream Ministry]] is headquartered in Anaheim and hosts several Christian conferences a year. *Orange County Buddhist Center in Laguna Hills, part of the [[Soka Gakkai International]] Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page