Churches

When the largest church in Boulder County, Colo., wanted to double its size two years ago, county commissioners said no. Rocky Mountain Christian Church already dominated a rural corner of the county northwest of Denver. If it became any larger, commissioners said, it would destroy the area's country atmosphere. But the church didn't accept the decision quietly.

Boulder County, Colo., officials acted illegally when they turned down a local church's request to double its size, but their decision was not motivated by religious bias, a federal jury decided this week. Rocky Mountain Christian Church sued the county in 2006 after being denied a permit to expand. Church officials said that county commissioners had violated a federal law protecting religious institutions from discrimination by local governments.

The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in Upper Manhattan will be open from end to end for the first time since its restoration after a devastating fire damaged ancient tapestries and a 8,500-pipe organ seven years ago. A celebratory rededication is planned for Sunday at the Gothic Episcopal church, called the largest cathedral in the world. The entire length of the 601-foot-long building will be open.

African drums boomed and pipe organ music swelled as the Cathedral of St. John the Divine opened for worship after years of cleanup from a 2001 fire that struck the world's largest Gothic cathedral. The cathedral's 98-year-old Skinner organ was played for the first time since the Dec. 18, 2001, fire at the church that is the spiritual home of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and firefighters who had battled the blaze joined church officials and 3,800 parishioners at the rededication service.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's home church was badly damaged by fire, prompting the governor to apologize if the suspected arson was connected to "undeserved negative attention" from her failed campaign as the Republican vice presidential nominee. Damage to Wasilla Bible Church was estimated at $1 million, authorities said Saturday. No one was injured in the fire, which started Friday night while a handful of people were inside, according to Central Matanuska-Susitna Fire Chief James Steele.

Pope Gregory I first identified the Seven Deadly Sins -- and suitable punishments for their commission -- around AD 600, 1,400 years before Las Vegas would earn the moniker Sin City. But the nickname is certainly fitting. Today, no one who practices gluttony amid the mountains of food at the famous buffets is forced to eat rats or toads. Nor is someone indulging in lust smothered in fire and brimstone.

President-elect Barack Obama visited military families Thursday as they ate Christmas dinner, thanking them for their service and posing for pictures. Obama visited Marine Corps Base Hawaii near his rented vacation home and briefly chatted with enlisted members who ate turkey, ham and roast beef. He didn't make formal remarks or speak to reporters during the stop, one of the few public sightings of the Democratic president-elect on what aides call a private family vacation.

When religion made news in California this year -- and it did frequently -- much of that news involved conflict. Religious leaders of various faiths squared off on Proposition 8, the successful statewide initiative to ban gay marriage. Rifts also continued in the Episcopal Church, largely prompted by differing views on the role of gays and lesbians in church life. But 2008 was also a time for new beginnings and of faiths coming together. As the year comes to a close, let's review a few of them.

The Las Vegas man who stabbed his two young daughters and himself to death outside his family's Montclair church Wednesday was facing felony domestic violence charges in Nevada and was deeply distraught over the separation with his wife, Montclair police said Thursday. Investigators believe 38-year-old Josemari Dogoldogol had separated from his wife, Mylene, in early fall, three months before his arrest in the alleged assault on her, said Montclair Police Capt. Chris Weiske.

Inviting a confrontation with city officials, the senior pastor at a venerable Long Beach church vowed Friday to defy a prosecutor's order that he block homeless people from sleeping on the steps and grounds of his church. Failure to disperse the 15 to 20 people who camp between the sidewalk and the First Congregational Church of Long Beach's walls may result in a fine of $1,000 a day, Deputy City Prosecutor Sayge Castillo warned in a recent letter.