What were the top news stories of 2015?

Patheos is compiling the news stories of 2015 that were most important to “each faith community.”  My editor, former student Barton Gingrich, who runs the “evangelical channel,” has asked for our input.  What I’d like to give him are the opinions of what we could call the Cranach community, those who read this blog.  Lots of you are Lutherans, so that would give the viewpoint of a strain of “evangelicals” who are not always heard from in that group.  But not all of you are, and I want to hear from you as well.   So, in your opinion and from your perspective, what are the top news developments of the last year?From Barton Gingrich, Evangelical channel editor, Patheos:

Doing a bit of crowd resourcing here. Each Patheos channel is set to compile a post highlighting the news stories that were the most important to each faith community. I wanted to gather some of your all’s thoughts and ideas before I publish the article. It needs to be completed before Dec. 21.

There are several stories that come to my mind: Obergefell, the rash of mass shootings, Pope Francis, racial conflict in the US, the Kim Davis showdown in America, continued persecution of Christians in the developing world (incidents in Nigeria come to my mind, but please send along others), the flight of Christians from the Middle East, the implosion of various ministries (Gospel for Asia, for one), the Ashley Madison revelations, the flare ups on American college campuses, etc.

However, I don’t want to miss, under-emphasize, or overemphasize anything. I also want to avoid American tunnel vision here. Please, send any other thoughts or opinions my way (the sooner the better).