Keith Quinones
CNA Staff, Oct 25, 2024 / 11:00 am
On Friday, a legal education group focused on religious liberty issues released its 2024 Faith and Freedom Index, which finds many states are “overly burdensome and even hostile” toward religious nonprofits in the United States.
A report from the Napa Law Institute found that some states, including Massachusetts, Michigan and Washington, rank low on religious freedom, while other states such as Alabama and Indiana have “robust protections” for religious nonprofits, it said. in a Napa Legal press release.
Napa Legal Vice President and CEO Mary Margaret Beecher said the index “shows that states must actively engage in the fight for religious freedom and a thriving civil society.”
“The work of faith-based nonprofits is especially important in an election year when many Americans are uncertain about the future of our country and are seeing escalating attacks on religious freedom and rights of conscience across the country,” Beecher said.
The Faith and Freedom Index evaluates 14 types of state laws and gives states scores based on the ranking of those laws.
Alabama and Indiana scored high due to “simple corporate, tax and financial regimes,” while Massachusetts, Michigan and Washington scored low due to “complex regulatory regimes” and “minimal protections” for religious nonprofits, the release said.
Countries were assessed on freedom of regulation and freedom of religion. In the overall ranking, which takes both measures into account, more than half of the states scored 50% or less. Most states (38) had average scores between 40 and 59 percent, but Michigan, Washington, Massachusetts, West Virginia and Illinois ranked lowest, at 32 to 39 percent.
Eight states – Utah, New Hampshire, Iowa, Mississippi, Texas, Kansas, Indiana and Alabama – scored higher on the scale, ranging from 60 to 79 percent.
Alabama received the highest score in the religious freedom category (86%) and Indiana scored highest in the regulatory freedom category (81%).
“It’s encouraging to see states like Alabama and Texas staunchly protect these critical rights; however, these rights belong to Americans regardless of the state in which they live,” Beecher said. “Now is the time for states that don’t have strong protections for these rights to move in that direction.”
Napa Legal Counsel Frank DeVito said the index “is a natural and important extension of Napa Legal’s work.”
“By analyzing laws that impact religious nonprofits and publishing the results, Napa Legal can better educate nonprofits, lawyers, and state policymakers about state laws that impact religious organizations,” he explained.
DeVito noted that such education “results in increased awareness and compliance with the law by religious nonprofit organizations, improved legal training for lawyers serving these organizations, and the ability for state legislators to pass better laws to help faith-based nonprofits thrive.”
Napa Legal launched the index in 2023 to address religious freedom issues in the United States. The group said progress has been made in several states since then, with Iowa, Nebraska and Utah passing state laws restoring religious freedom.
This year, the United States created a religious freedom index.
