WHO WE ARE

History of Spiritual Life Center

Spiritual Life Center was founded in September 1998 as an independent interfaith church. SLC was conceived by a small group of determined souls who were seeking a different kind of spiritual family--they were interested in building a community that would continuously evolve and grow; be fully inclusive; and develop its foundation by building peace among the world’s people and religions. The idea for this new kind of church fell upon fertile ground in Sacramento and came to fruition less than one year later.

In early 1998, following a Men’s Retreat, the seed was first planted when Michael and Faith Moran were approached about the possibility of returning to Sacramento to start a new church with an interfaith focus. In July of 1998, Michael and Faith were in Sacramento visiting with a group of friends who had known them at Christ Unity Church. The possibility of this new kind of spiritual community was raised again. While not convinced that there would be enough support for such a venture, Michael and Faith agreed to attend a meeting “to see if anybody shows up.”

In September 1998, more than 200 enthusiastic supporters, who had learned of the meeting by phone, email, and word-of-mouth, showed up at the Radisson Hotel. On that day, Michael and Faith Moran were introduced, not only to their new congregation, but to a newly formed Board of Trustees. Coupled with his own passion and his trust of Faith’s intuition, Michael was convinced that Sacramento was to be the home of the church they had dreamed of when they entered ministerial school in 1984.

On November 1, 1998, SLC held its first services at the “Little Church” at 24th & K Streets. During the first year, the overflow crowds required that services be expanded to three services each Sunday, as well as a Thursday night meditation service. It was not long until a Sacramento Fire Marshall encouraged Michael to search for a larger venue. As the congregation grew to over 500 people, spirit led us to the beautiful Pioneer Church, located only four blocks away. On January 16, 2000, SLC held its first services at Pioneer Church.

From the beginning, SLC took its place in the Sacramento community by tithing ten percent of all donations to local charities, as well as engaging in dialogue between the different faiths of Sacramento. The SLC community was soon committed to realizing Faith Moran’s dream of building a house through Habitat for Humanity. In 2002, SLC and its partners stood together on the foundation of what would be the very first Habitat House ever built by an interfaith partnership.

Oneness Symbol Story

Oneness Symbol was created by the late artist Isaac Soltes as a beautiful statement for harmony and understanding among the world's great religions and spiritual traditions. His inspired design weaves together the symbols of ancient Egypt, Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam.

In 1967, Isaac Soltes made his first piece of jewelry and spent years developing a universal symbol of peace, a statement of unity in diversity, a demonstration of his belief that all people everywhere, for all time, are equal in the eyes of One God. Isaac had researched the world’s great religions and worked on perfecting a meaningful design. When finished with his creation, he christened it “Oneness.” He wanted the world's religions to respect their differences, to recognize and honor the inner spark that unites us all.

Isaac began making Oneness jewelry in his garage. Originally each piece was made by hand. The peace symbol found its way, as a sort of poster, into a locker room at a ministerial school where two ministers-in-training (Faith and Michael Moran) saw it and immediately grasped its relevance to their fledgling ministry. Their work together was to be based on the concept “One God – Many Paths.” Faith ordered the Oneness Symbol for Michael for his graduation (he was a year ahead of her) and Michael presented Faith with hers the following year.

As their ministry grew, they began placing more orders with Isaac for members of their congregation. One day he called them and wanted to know just who was ordering so many of his symbols of peace. The long distance relationship began between Isaac, Faith and Michael Moran. Although they never met, before Isaac died he entrusted his peace message into their care with instructions to oversee its spread into the hands of a waiting world.

To read the entire story of the creation of the Oneness Symbol, visit www.onenessjewelry.com.

Oneness Symbol is dedicated to bringing the "Peace Symbol for the 21st Century" to the world. It is a separate corporation from Spiritual Life Center; however, like SLC, it is organized exclusively to promote the furtherance of tolerance and respect for all religions and spiritual traditions. Primarily the corporation engages in educational and commercial efforts such as the sale and distribution of Oneness jewelry and Oneness products to achieve this goal.

All profits from the sale of Oneness products are contributed to Spiritual Life Center for the growth and development of its programs.

SLC in the News

Unity in the Community Award

Each year Spiritual Life Center embraces and celebrates the Season for Non-Violence - a sixty-four day period honoring the death anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi on January 30 and Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4. The season honors the teachings of Gandhi and King and promotes non-violence in all aspects of life.
An award, consisting of a beautiful glass commemorative piece and a check for $1000, is presented annually at the end of the Season for Non-Violence to a community leader or leaders demonstrating the concept of building unity within the community.

2006 Award Winner –

2005 Award Winner –

2004 Award Winner – Rev. Dexter McNamara, Executive Director of Sacramento's Interfaith Service Bureau. Dexter accepted his award for spearheading the joint effort of local churches and organizations to build and restore homes for low income families through Habitat for Humanity and Rebuilding Together.

2003 Award Winner - Jeff vonKaenel, CEO/President of the Sacramento News & Review. Jeff accepted the award for his inspiring 9/11 "Call to Unity" event celebrating the richness and diversity of our community and for being a catalyst for the Building Unity coalition.