WORLD Opinions: A Blue State Makes a Big Point

Editor’s Note: The following essay was published in WORLD Opinions on July 13, 2023, and is authored by Jordan Ballor, director of research for the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy.

Today [July 13th] the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy makes public the results of our second annual Religious Liberty in the States (RLS) index. One of the most noteworthy changes from the first iteration of the index last year is that the state of Illinois has moved from the second position to the top spot. Last year’s leader, Mississippi, dropped into a tie for fourth.

One element that remains consistent through both years of the RLS is that states that are typically identified as either red or blue, conservative or progressive, do not dominate either the top or the bottom of the rankings. There are blue states at the top—even the very top—and there are red states at or near the bottom. Even so, Illinois seems like an outlier that warrants further exploration.

The last time a majority of voters in Illinois opted for a GOP presidential candidate was 35 years ago in 1988, when Republican George H. W. Bush beat Michael Dukakis. Only three of the 17 representatives currently in the U.S. House from Illinois are Republicans, and only two members of the GOP have been elected (for one term each) to the Senate from Illinois since 1985. At the level of state government, things are just as lopsided. Only one Republican has served as a governor in the last 20 years, and that was Bruce Rauner for a single term (2015-2019). Over that same period the Democratic party has held majorities in both chambers of Illinois’ General Assembly.

…

The methodology of the RLS project is such that it takes as a baseline or as a frontier only the legal provisions that states themselves have already enacted. That means each item in the index has been enacted in at least one state—and often in many more than one. In this way, even the first-place state of Illinois has something it can learn from other states to improve its legal safeguards of religious liberty.

My hope is that all states, whether red, blue, or purple, will work to enhance the legal standing for those who face religious discrimination and restrictions because of their beliefs. Illinois shows us that this kind of robust legal protection is possible—even in a historically blue state.

Read the entire article in WORLD Opinions here.