Americans who cherish religious freedom may want to pivot to states such as Alabama and Indiana, but steer clear of Michigan.
The Napa Legal Institute on Friday released its 2024 Faith and Freedom Index ranking states based on both religious and regulatory freedom, evaluating state laws governing faith-based nonprofit institutions such as churches, religious schools and charities.
“Many states burden and hinder these organizations, rather than protecting and supporting them,” the institute said. “The second annual Faith and Freedom Index reveals that many states including Massachusetts, Michigan and Washington over-burden and are even hostile towards faith-based nonprofits.”
Michigan received a religious-freedom score of 22% and a regulatory-freedom score of 49% for an overall score of 32%. Not far behind were Washington state with a combined score of 35% and Massachusetts with 38%.
All three are Democrat-run blue states, but some red states were also dinged with weak rankings, including West Virginia, which posted an overall score of 38%.
States receiving the highest overall rankings were Alabama with 72%, Indiana with 68% and Texas and Kansas, which both scored 64%.
“While no state is perfect, these states protect religious freedom while also setting up nonprofits for success through straightforward corporate, tax and fundraising regimes,” the institute said. “The lowest overall scores went to Massachusetts, Michigan and Washington because the states feature both complicated regulatory regimes and only minimal protections for faith-based nonprofits.”
For example, Michigan has not enacted a Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Its nondiscrimination laws “include no meaningful accommodations or exemptions to protect the autonomy of religious employers.”
The Michigan Constitution still contains a Blaine amendment, the anti-Catholic measure adopted by many states in the late 19th century barring public funds for parochial schools. Montana’s Blaine amendment was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020.
“The work of faith-based nonprofits is especially crucial this election year, in which Americans are uncertain about the future of our nation & are seeing escalating attacks on religious freedom & conscience rights.” https://t.co/T5w7eSGSXg
— Napa Legal Institute (@NapaLegal) October 25, 2024
“Conversely, states like Alabama and Indiana have robust protections for faith-based nonprofits that their less-free neighbors could learn from,” the institute said. “Encouragingly, many states have made progress since the Index launched in 2023 and improved their friendliness to religious organizations by passing better laws.”
The District of Columbia landed more toward the middle with an overall score of 47%.
Napa Legal said it has helped “hundreds of religious organizations to navigate the various laws that affect them” by educating faith-based nonprofit leaders, using skills courses and other resources through its All Access platform.
“It’s encouraging to see states like Alabama and Texas staunchly protecting these crucial rights; however, these rights belong to Americans regardless of the state they inhabit,” said Mary Margaret Beecher, Napa Legal vice president and executive director. “Now is the time for states that do not have robust protections of these rights to move towards doing so.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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