"Some studies credited evangelicals with providing Bush with his margin of victory," noted Religion Newswriters Association, which polled journalists who write about issues of faith for the secular media.

Fifty-one percent of the members named Gibson as Religion Newsmaker of the Year. Bush came in second with 40 percent.

Sen. John Kerry's sudden embrace of religion late in the presidential campaign did not make the top 10, though the Massachusetts Democrat figured in the list's No. 4 story: the decision of a few bishops to practice Catholicism and deny Communion to pro-abortion "Catholics."

Editor's note: