Earlier this week, veteran religion journalist Kimberly Winston invited me to talk about the year’s top religion stories for an upcoming feature on Interfaith Voices’ “Inspired” radio show.

Our discussion turned to the Religion News Association’s ballot for the top 10 national and international religion stories of 2022.

I boldly predicted that the overturning of Roe v. Wade would be the No. 1 national story and that Russian’s war on Ukraine would be the No. 1 international story.

Actually, those stories were obvious — not daring — choices. Sure enough, they topped RNA’s list of top stories announced after my recording session with Winston.

As I type this, I’m devouring my mom’s homemade fudge and watching Christmas movies. So rather than pick the week’s 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 their favorite or most important story they wrote during 2022.

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

Power Up: Journalists share their best reads of 2022

• Liam Adams and Cole Villena, The Tennessean: Williamson County, the suburban “new frontier” for American evangelical Christianity, published Aug. 31.

• Cheryl Mann Bacon, Christian Chronicle: A final song, a familiar end, part of a year-long special project, published March 30.

• Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service: Amy Grant, ‘queen of Christian pop,’ feted at Kennedy Center Honors with sidebar Faith in the spotlight on Kennedy Center red carpet and stage at annual Honors gala, published Dec. 5.

• Deepa Bharath, Associated Press: Asian faiths try to save swastika symbol corrupted by Hitler, published Nov. 27.

• Greg Garrison, AL.com: Gelato shop on US 280 bans cell phones, profanity, scantily clad patrons: ‘This place is different,’ published Nov. 17.

• Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post: A rape survivor’s careful activism in a place where #MeToo feels taboo, published Dec. 13.

• Jillian Cheney, ReligionUnplugged.com: Leonard Cohen documentary “Hallelujah” solidifies the power of a song, published Aug. 12.

• David Crary, Associated Press: Black Catholic nuns: A compelling, long-overlooked history, published April 30.

• Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News: Perspective — What Russell Moore taught me about arguing with my husband, published Feb. 12.

• Julia Duin, Newsweek: Evangelical Christian adoption movement hit by “tsunami” of mentally ill children, published June 12.

• Emma Green, New Yorker: The hidden life of a Christian-college professor, published June 30.

CONTINUE READING: “Weekend Plug-In Year In Review — The Best Religion Journalism Of 2022” by Bobby Ross, Jr., at Religion Unplugged.