Everyone had to know that the fall of Roe v. Wade would be the top pick in the Religion News Association’s annual poll to determine the Top 10 religion-beat stories of 2022. That would have been the case, even if the RNA hadn’t created two lists this year, one for U.S. stories and one for international stories.

Why? I’ve been following this poll closely since the late 1970s and once interviewed the legendary George Cornell of the Associated Press about his observations on mainstream religion-news coverage trends during his decades on the beat.

Let’s briefly review some of the factors that shape this list year after year, since this topic was discussed during the final 2022 “Crossroads” podcast (CLICK HERE to tune that in). This episode was recorded while we wrestled with rolling power blackouts here in the frigid hills of East Tennessee. See if you can guess where we had to do a patch and start again!

First of all, the RNA top story will almost always be a hot political event or trend — with a religion angle. Politics, after all, is REAL news. Think White Evangelicals and Bad Man Orange. Second, it helps if stories feature clashes between religion and sex, usually in one of the progressive Mainline Protestant churches or, ideally, Roman Catholicism. Think Joe Biden, Catholic bishops and just about anything (especially if Pope Francis is involved). After that, you have slots for wars, natural disasters and newsy papal tours.

The fall of Roe v. Wade had it all, putting a core Sexual Revolution doctrine at risk, to one degree or another, depending on the blue, red or purple state involved.

I will not run through the contents of the whole RNA list. However, it’s interesting to note the wordings in some poll items, paying attention to what is included and what is NOT included therein. For example, here is No. 1 in the U.S. list:

The Supreme Court overturns the 1973 Roe v. Wade precedent and says there is no constitutional right to abortion, sparking battles in courts and state legislatures and driving voters to the November polls in high numbers. More than a dozen states enact abortion bans, while voters reject constitutional abortion restrictions in conservative Kansas and Kentucky and put abortion rights in three other states’ constitutions.

What is missing in that complex item?

Obviously, political angles are important. But what about the attacks on churches — especially Catholic churches — and crisis-pregnancy centers? These attacks varied, of course, from vandalism to arson, from the interruption of sacred services to the destruction of sacred art. What about illegal protests at the private homes of U.S. Supreme Court justices? What about that man with a gun trying to get into the house of Justice Brett Kavanaugh?

Journalists should have paused and asked: How would we have covered these events if protesters had attacked mosques, perhaps while wearing MAGA hats? The bottom line: Journalists in elite newsrooms appear hesitant to ask an important question: Is Jane’s Revenge real?

The No. 2 American story? Read this carefully:

Candidates embracing Christian Nationalist themes gain numerous Republican nominations but fare less well in the general midterm elections, while experts and activists debate the extent and alleged danger of a fusion of American and Christian identity. After smaller-than-expected Republican electoral wins, attributed by some to the long shadow of Donald Trump, many religious leaders who formerly supported him voice wariness over his announced campaign to regain the presidency. 

This is a rare example of the mainstream press playing down the clout of Donald Trump, whose hand-picked and allegedly qualified candidates were rejected by independent voters, as well as plenty of Republicans.

Meanwhile, what is “Christian Nationalism”? Here is a definition from Christianity Today, a centrist evangelical publication that is respected by the mainstream press:

Christian nationalism is the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way. Popularly, Christian nationalists assert that America is and must remain a “Christian nation” — not merely as an observation about American history, but as a prescriptive program for what America must continue to be in the future.

At this point, how would America’s tiny percentage of truly radicalized fundamentalists — with that term accurately defined — have the power to create a theocracy? Obtaining a nuclear weapon and threatening Disney World, the New York Times or Yale Law School? After all, the fundies have zero clout in Hollywood, major newsrooms, elite publishing houses, corporate newsrooms (even Walmart!) or America’s public-education establishment. Republican leaders nod at them in public, but mock them behind closed doors.

So what events and trends led to the No. 2 ranking for this topic? I think it’s safe, at this point, to assume that most SCOTUS victories for old-school-Liberal views of the First Amendment (think freedom to practice unpopular religious beliefs) will be seen as Christian nationalism-adjacent by many newsroom leaders.

However, in the podcast I argued that the key to the many Christian-nationalism headlines can be found in a trend located in the No. 8 slot on the list of American religion-news stories. As in:

Non-denominational Christian churches soar in growth, according to the newly released 2020 U.S. Religion Census, a decennial survey conducted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. There are now more non-denominational churches than any denominations' churches but Southern Baptists, and their 21 million adherents outnumber every group but Catholics. 

Here’s my challenge: Find a headline that journalists link to Christian nationalism (yes, start with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol) and look for participants linked to religion. Can anyone find a factual angle of this coverage in which the accused leaders, or even many of the followers, have links to any mainstream evangelical denomination, parachurch group, publishing house or a thriving private college, university or seminary campus?

Good luck with that hunt. I haven’t seen any, but I’d welcome some solid URLs.

Now, let’s wrap this up. Scan the rest of the RNA poll results and you will see plenty of important stories, from the #ChurchToo struggles in the Southern Baptist Convention to the post-COVID-19 collapse of some religious groups (especially oldline denominations), from church-state SCOTUS decisions to the local, regional, national, global war among disunited Methodists.

As you would expect, the No. 1 story in the new international list was:

Russia invades Ukraine and meets fierce resistance in a war causing an estimated 240,000 casualties, including many Ukrainian civilians, amid allegations of war crimes. Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow defends the action as part of a metaphysical battle against Western liberalism. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church declares independence from the Russian Orthodox Church but faces growing government scrutiny over clerics’ alleged ties to Moscow. Faith-based aid groups respond to Europe’s biggest refugee flight since World War II.

Totally valid, although GetReligion readers know my views on the topic are more complex than this take on Vladimir Putin’s war. The bottom line: Many journalists in USA/EU newsrooms struggle, with good cause, to grasp centuries of Eastern Orthodox history and the nature of our polity (there is no pope).

The No. 2 global story? Also totally valid:

Protests in Iran, sparked by the death of a 22-year-old woman detained by the country’s morality police, escalate into calls for the downfall of the Islamic republic’s theocracy. Girls and women of all ages remove mandatory headscarves in the protests. Rights groups say security forces have killed hundreds of protesters.

Events in Iran led to the RNA’s choice for the Religion Newsmaker/s of the Year, a selection that I enthusiastically endorse:

The Iranian women who lead in protests against their nation’s theocracy, publicly burning veils and cutting their hair after a 22-year-old woman dies in the custody of the Islamic republic’s morality police.

However, note that the global Top 10 list is missing a very important word — Nigeria.

What’s up with that? Readers may want to check out this recent Richard Ostling Memo: “Buried story of 2022?”

Enjoy the final podcast of 2022 and, please, pass it on to others.

FIRST IMAGE: Screenshot from a Wichita, Kansas, report by by KWCH-TV, Channel 12: “Virgin Mary statue, Catholic Church front door vandalized with abortion rights messaging.”