Nearly two months ago, I received a binder containing emails and other records showing how Southern Baptist Convention leaders drafted a resolution on race in a particularly tense moment for the convention.
My story based on what I learned, for @USATODAY: https://t.co/vxINHbIybI
— Liam Adams (@liamsadams) December 9, 2021

This week, I’m sipping hot chocolate and watching Christmas movies.

Rather than pick the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith, as I normally do, I asked some of the nation’s top religion writers to share the favorite story they wrote during 2021.

It’s a holiday week, so I didn’t catch up with everybody. But I sure appreciate my Godbeat colleagues who responded.

P.S. The Religion News Association announced its top religion stories of 2021 this week. Check out the RNA list.

Power Up: The Year’s Best Reads

Journalists who write about religion pick their top story of 2020.

• Liam Adams, The Tennessean: Inside the Southern Baptist Convention's battle over critical race theory and what it says about the denomination, published Dec. 13.

• Sarah Pulliam Bailey, Washington Post: Caught in a culture war, this multiracial family navigates a predominantly White evangelical world, published June 1.

• Cheryl Mann Bacon, Christian Chronicle: Afghan mission becomes a race to save lives, published Sept. 14.

• Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service: 9/11 became a catalyst for interfaith relations and cooperation, published Sept. 9.

• Deepa Bharath, Orange County Register: ‘It’s about finding a way,’ mourners say as they’re forced to change rituals amid coronavirus pandemic, published Jan. 29.

I spent the past few months trying to answer the question: the Jan. 6 insurrection obviously had a ton of Christian stuff going on, but what kind of Christian stuff? And what kind of Christians? And how did we get here and where is here? 1/9 https://t.co/TNJA8Cr3ax
— Michelle Boorstein (@mboorstein) July 6, 2021

• Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post: A horn-wearing ‘shaman.’ A cowboy evangelist. For some, the Capitol attack was a kind of Christian revolt, published July 6.

• Katherine Burgess, Memphis Commercial Appeal: Horn Lake’s rejection of mosque likely violation of federal law, published May 3.

• Madeleine Carlisle, Time: How one South Carolina pastor is combating vaccine hesitancy in communities of color, published March 25.

• Meagan Clark, ReligionUnplugged.com: Exclusive: After pushback HarperCollins will not produce ‘God Bless The USA’ Bible, published May 25.

• David Crary, Associated Press: Admirers still urging sainthood for chaplain killed on 9/11, published Sept. 4.

• Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News: The bill that could change religious freedom as you know it, published Jan. 8.

CONTINUE READING: “Weekend Plug-In Year In Review: The Best Religion Journalism Of 2021,” by Bobby Ross, Jr., at Religion Unplugged.