NEW YORK, N.Y. (EP) - Martin Luther was the top newsmaker of the second millennium, according to a survey of members of the Religion Newswriters Association. The Protestant Reformation was named the top religion story by 30 participating secular journalists who cover religion.

In 1517 Luther challenged the Roman Catholic Church, nailing 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. His condemnation of corruption in the church sparked the Reformation, which led to the Christian church's second major split and the Catholic counter-reformation.

Gutenberg's use of movable type to create the first mass-produced Bible was number two on the list of top news stories, followed by the Great Schism of 1054 when Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism went their separate ways.

Other top religion news items of the millennium include:

°  The Nazi Holocaust, and the resulting founding of the modern state of Israel.

°  The launch of the Crusades in 1095 to liberate the Holy Land from Muslims.

°  The spread of Islam in Africa and Asia.

°  The reforms to the Catholic church resulting from the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965)

°  The protection of religious freedom in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, foreshadowed by the establishment of a Pilgrim colony in Plymouth, Mass., in 1620.

°  Challenges to traditional religious beliefs by 19th century figures including Darwin, Freud, Marx and Nietchze.

°  The 1906 Azusa Street revival, which launched the Pentecostal movement.

°  The 1947 discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.