Download the Full Report, Executive Summary, and RLS Data Now
Our Downloads page provides free access to all downloadable materials, including our full 2023 report, complete dataset, and 50 user-friendly state scorecards.
What’s new in RLS 2023?
Religious Liberty in the States (RLS) is a data project and index measure reflecting the current landscape of free-exercise protections at the state level. Now in its second annual edition, RLS analyzes all 50 states on 34 detailed items, including new safeguards related to children’s school attendance, religious ceremonial use of alcohol, and confidential communication with clergy.
With richer data, anyone can dig deeper!
RLS 2023 has been updated to reflect (1) a broader scope of 14 safeguards, (2) the changes in states’ statutory laws during 2022, and (3) the influence of judicial decisions on the laws we’re tracking. Equipped with two years of data and an expanded set of safeguards, researchers and concerned citizens alike can learn more. Explore what your state is doing now to protect religious liberty. And, where it’s lacking, look to other states for examples of what is possible. Find (and share) your state’s scorecard or explore across states in a topic area of interest to you. Researchers will find the complete RLS 2023 dataset useful. Now longitudinal, it includes complete citations to statutory law and detailed notes from the RLS research team.
In The News
Religion Unplugged: Illinois and South Carolina Rank Tops in Religious Liberty Index
Illinois and South Carolina have the most religious liberty safeguards currently in place, while states such as West Virginia ranked at the bottom, a report issued by a conservative think tank revealed.
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The Christian Post: Best and Worst States for Religious Liberty
The Center for Religion, Culture and Democracy at First Liberty Institute released its second annual Religious Liberty in the States report last week. The report ranked all 50 states by the number of safeguards in place for religious liberty. While Mississippi scored highest last year, Illinois received the highest score this year.
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RealClear Religion: Not Just for Christians: How Religious Liberty Protections Benefit Religious Minorities
Editor’s Note: The following op-ed was published in RealClear Religion on July 19, 2023, and is authored by Trey Dimsdale,…
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There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage.”
John Witherspoon,
"The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men"
