The descriptions of these stories are far too cursory for this piece to be very effective or meaningful. The author made no attempt to tie them together in any way or comment on how, perhaps, religion coverage in 2008 compares to previous years. Not that Time should have to pay lip service to every major religion in the name of balance, but the fact that a story involving Islam doesn't appear on this list makes me question the magazine's news judgment.

Interesting roundup of ten important stories about religion from Time Magazine in 2008. This series provides a good overview of how church and state intersect in what could become the defining issue of our times. What is missing is some overarching context to tie them all together. Perhaps we can find this perspective in some of the blogs that will inevitably be written about this compendium.

"Time" loves these kinds of "best" stories, along with its person of the year feature. To readers looking for some kind of continuity among the stories--there ain't any, other than all ten are have religion somewhere as their subject. Interesting, but so what?