What a year for religion news!

From the pandemic to the election, the major headlines of 2020 had huge faith angles.

For this special year-end edition of Weekend Plug-in, I asked some of the nation’s top reporters and columnists to share the favorite religion story they wrote during 2020.

However, some of them couldn’t stop at just one. I guess I’m OK with that because it means more terrific links in the list below.

It’s a holiday week, so I didn’t catch up with everybody. But I sure appreciate my colleagues who responded. And I beg forgiveness for the excellent Godbeat work I missed in this roundup, this week and every week.

Power Up: The Year’s Best Reads

Journalists who write about religion pick their top story — or in some cases, top stories — of 2020.

• Sarah Pulliam Bailey, Washington Post: Seeking power in Jesus’ name: Trump sparks a rise of Patriot Churches, published Oct. 26.

• Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service: Stacey Abrams’ passion for voting began with her preacher parents, published Oct. 16.

• Deepa Bharath, Orange County Register: Hospital chaplains fill role of surrogate family members during times of isolation, depression, death, published July 12.

• Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post: These Mormon twins worked together on an IRS whistleblower complaint over the church’s billions — and it tore them apart, published Jan. 16.

• Katherine Burgess, Memphis Commercial Appeal: Family of Tennessee death row inmate awaits 'miracle' as 11th hour DNA test underway, published Oct. 20.

• Meagan Clark, Religion Unplugged: Evangelical Ph.D. student explains why Christians should care about climate change, published April 24.

• Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News: Five years ago, Utah passed landmark legislation on LGBTQ and religious rights. Why didn’t other states follow its lead?, published March 11.

• Paul Glader, Religion Unplugged: God and guns: Why American churchgoers are packing heat, published June 8.

• Emma Green, The Atlantic: The Temptation of Kayleigh McEnany: How an ardent defender of faith — and Donald Trump — came to think of the press as her enemy, published June 25.

• Luis Andres Henao, The Associated Press: Stabbings, shootings, assaults weigh on U.S. Jewish youth, published Jan. 8; Faith before basketball for Yeshiva University champions, published March 1; and Pandemic, loss unite two rural pastors around faith, published Dec. 9.

• Jaweed Kaleem, Los Angeles Times: As the coronavirus spreads in Florida, a priest struggles to reach his flock, published March 3; In a city scarred by the coronavirus, a priest revives a nervous parish, published Aug. 7; and The pastor thought Trump was ‘evil.’ So he quit his conservative church, published Oct. 29.

• Bud Kennedy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Greg Abbott praises church victim: ‘Only God knows’ who’s alive because of Rich White, published Jan. 3.

• Sam Kestenbaum, New York Times: Inside the fringe Japanese religion that claims it can cure COVID-19, published April 16.

• Clemente Lisi, Religion Unplugged: Ignoring Kobe Bryant's Catholic faith results in incomplete look at his life, published Jan. 27; 5 Jesus movies you should watch this Easter, published April 4; and 5 religious sites you should visit virtually while you're stuck at home, published April 7.

• Ian Lovett, Wall Street Journal: ‘It’s like I got kicked out of my family.’ Churches struggle with mental health in the ranks, published Jan. 20; and The Mormon church amassed $100 billion. It was the best-kept secret in the investment world, published Feb. 8.

• Terry Mattingly, nationally syndicated “On Religion” columnist for the Universal Syndicate: Thanksgiving 2020: Prayers from Russian Gulag ring true during COVID pandemic, published Dec. 8.

• Emily McFarlan Miller, Religion News Service: Package of stories from Canada (here, here and here) and ‘Kayak Church’ gathers Pennsylvania church in person — and on the water — amid pandemic, published Sept. 4.

CONTINUE READING: “Weekend Plug-In Year In Review: The Best Religion Journalism Of 2020” by Bobby Ross, Jr., at Religion UnPlugged.