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Briefly noted

Bishop V. Gene Robinson, elected in June as the first openly gay bishop of the Episcopal Church, was named the Religion Newsmaker of the Year by members of the Religion Newswriters Association. His approval and consecration, and the ensuing threats of schism in the U.S. church and the wider Anglican Communion, also were cited as the top religion news story of 2003—a ranking shared with criticism of the Anglican bishop of Vancouver, British Columbia, who approved same-sex unions. About a third of the 240 RNA members took part in the annual survey.