GetReligion celebrates its fifth anniversary this week, and contributors will mark the occasion with lists of our five favorite posts from the past year. I’ll kick this off.

I returned to GetReligion in October, so my choice of posts was more limited than in previous years. These are the posts that I most enjoyed writing and, in some cases, defending.

Absolute rubbish — In which Newsweek film critic David Ansen compares alcoholism and belief in absolutes.

Gangster of love — If I were writing this post today, I would leave out my gratuitous joke about hate crime. Otherwise, I have no regrets about my treatment of Keith Olbermann’s poorly informed hectoring of Californians who voted for Proposition 8.

Quinn to Obama: Come worship pluralism — One of these days, Jon Meacham may repent for persuading Sally Quinn to begin writing about religion. I do not post every time Quinn shows her lack of competence to cover this beat, but sometimes her coverage is so horrible that I must protest.

Marilynne Robinson on science and faith — I didn’t write much commentary on this post, but I called attention to a worthy Q&A in which an acclaimed novelist discussed her faith in (eventually) satisfying detail.

Fearless predictions — In which I confess my feelings about Top Religion Story lists by — well, by mocking them.