FPL is busy compiling our top news stories of 2007, but I wanted to pass along the Religion Newswriters Association's top ten list for the year.

In addition to collecting stories about these topics, Faith In Public Life helped groups dedicated to several of these issues (such as Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and the Great Warming Call to Action) earn news coverage, and we're glad to see their success reflected in the media.

Results based on RNA member polling:

1. Evangelical voters ponder if they can support the eventual Republican candidate due to questions about the leaders' platforms and/or faith.

2. Leading Democratic presidential candidates make conscious efforts to attract faith-based voters after acknowledging their failure to do so in 2004.

3. The role of gay and lesbian clergy continues to be a deeply divisive issue, with the Episcopal Church's pledge of restraint on gay issues failing to halt the number of congregations making plans to leave the denomination.

4. Global warming increases in importance among religious groups, with mainline leaders considering it a high priority and evangelical leaders divided over its importance compared to other issues.

5. Illegal immigration is debated by religious groups and leaders, with some taking an active role in affirming undocumented immigrants.

6. Thousands of Buddhist monks in Myanmar lead a pro-democracy protest that is harshly put down after a week.

7. Some conservative Episcopalians in the U.S. realign with Anglican bishops in Africa and other parts of the "Global South," setting off church property legal disputes.

8. The Supreme Court rules in favor of conservative positions in three major cases: upholding a ban on so-called partial-birth abortions, permitting schools to create some limits on students' free speech, and denying a challenge to the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives.

9. Deaths among prominent evangelical leaders included the Revs. Jerry Falwell, Rex Humbard and D. James Kennedy, as well as Ruth Graham, wife of evangelist Billy Graham, and Tammy Faye Messner, ex-wife of disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker.

10. The cost of priestly sex abuse to the U.S. Roman Catholic Church exceeds $2.1 billion, with a record $660 million settlement involving the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and earlier settlements in Portland, Ore., and Spokane, Wash.