Religious freedom is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution, and is further protected by the Establishment Clause and the Religious Freedom Clause.
A recent report from the First Liberty Institute, a Texas-based nonprofit Christian conservative legal group, shows which U.S. states are living up to that promise and which others are lagging behind.
The nonprofit compared how the 50 states protect religious freedom through their laws.
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The third annual “State Religious Freedom” report ranks states on an index based on 39 legal provisions states can adopt to protect religious freedom.
After determining whether each state has a statute, we collapse the protective measures into 16 “safety nets” that are averaged to produce a single index score for each state.
The First Amendment protects religious freedom by prohibiting Congress from establishing religion or interfering with its free exercise. (spxChrome)
This year’s new “safeguards” include absentee voting, health care provisions, health insurance mandates, marriage and wedding issues, guarantees of life for religious ceremonies, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
“This dynamic index will be more reflective of how well countries protect religious freedom today and less tied to what countries did decades ago,” Paul Mueller, deputy director of the project, said in a press release.
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“We therefore expect states to move up (or down) their annual index ratings depending on how aggressively they protect religious freedom.”
First Liberty Institute released its annual “Religious Freedom in America” report, ranking Illinois as the best state for protecting religious freedom. (iStock)
Illinois was again deemed the top state for religious freedom in the report, but its score dropped from 85% to 80% because it failed to implement new protections to prevent houses of worship from being closed, the group noted.
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Following the Prairie States are Florida, Montana and Arkansas.
Mississippi topped the list of the top five states.
First Liberty Institute has released its third annual report, “Religious Freedom in America.” (Ildar Abrukhanov)
“Now is the time for all states to do everything in their power to protect our first freedom.“ Kelly Shackelford, president, CEO and chief advisor of First Liberty Institute, said in a statement.
“The State Religious Freedom Index provides Americans with the knowledge they need to advocate for fuller protection of religious freedom.”
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Rounding out the bottom of First Liberty’s list are California at No. 48 and Alaska at No. 49.
The state with the lowest religious freedom was West Virginia, at 25%, according to the report.
First Liberty Institute noted that the adoption of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act helped the state’s score increase from 14 percent the previous year.
The worst state for religious freedom is West Virginia, based on a new report from the First Liberty Institute. (spxChrome; Ildar Abrukhanov)
West Virginia’s Republican governor, Jim Justice, signed a law in March that prohibits the state from significantly burdening constitutional rights of religious freedom unless such burdens are “essential to further a compelling government interest,” The Associated Press reported at the time.
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“Many states have made significant improvements and the data clearly shows this, but there is still much room for progress,” First Liberty said on its website.
He added: “Most states are doing less than half of what they could. Only 12 states have religious liberty protections above 50 percent. [stated in] According to the report, most states have an average Less than half “of safeguards to protect religious freedom.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to First Liberty Institute for further comment.
