Religion Unplugged: Illinois and South Carolina Rank Tops in Religious Liberty Index

Editor’s Note: The following news story was published by Religion Unplugged on December 21, 2023, and is authored by Jovan Tripkovic, Religion Unplugged editorial fellow.

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.

The Center for Religion, Culture and Democracy at First Liberty Institute, a non-profit legal organization dedicated to defending religious freedom, issued the report last month. In it, the group ranked all 50 U.S. states, from best to worst, as part of an annual religious freedom index.

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According to the latest index, the three states with the most religious freedom protections are Illinois, South Carolina and New Mexico. Meanwhile, California, New Hampshire and West Virginia rank lowest for religious freedom protections in the country. 

Results range from as low as 14% to a high of 85%, with no state reaching a perfect score.

“With an expansion of the index, adding three new ranking categories, the gap between the first and last ranked state is larger than the year before,” Jordan Ballor, a research director of CRCD said in a phone interview with Religion Unplugged.

Some surprising results 

Religious liberty is perceived as a hyper-partisan issue. For those on the political right, it’s on the top of the political agenda. The left, meanwhile, has often accuses the Supreme Court of weaponizing religious liberty issues against the LGBT community.

These preconceived attitudes, however, don’t translate into public policy. Quite the contrary. Illinois, a reliable blue state, is ranked No. 1, while West Virginia, a red state, is last. 

Trey Dimsdale, executive director of CRCD, said he was surprised with the results.

“Besides Illinois being number one, I didn’t expect New Mexico and Washington to be in the top 10. These states don’t have a reputation for being particularly concerned about religious communities,” he said. 

Asma T. Uddin, a visiting professor at Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C., didn’t expect to see Texas towards the bottom of the list at No. 42.

“I associated Texas with GOP claims about prizing religious liberty and making it a first priority, particularly when it comes to religious exceptions,” Uddin said. “I wasn’t surprised that Utah was toward the top, given its significant accomplishment with the Utah Compromise.” 

For Mark David Hall, director of the Religious Liberty in States Index, the Palmetto State was a pleasant surprise.

“South Carolina made strides to enhance their religious liberty laws and recently passed a general conscience provision for healthcare, an impressive jump from 38th to 2nd place,” Hall said.  

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Read the entire story in Religion Unplugged here.