Love Loses
Last year, Rob Bell would have easily made this list coasting on the fumes of his bestselling universalist flirtation Love Wins and his stepping down from the Mars Hill Michigan megachurch he founded. This year, Bell only just made the cut. His embrace of gay marriage made headlines. However, he was only one of the many progressively pious to do so -- others included Jim Wallis and Rachel Held Evans -- so the impact was muted. Reports that about 1,000 members of his church had left after the publication of Love Wins helped secure his place. Religious decline is news, too.
