Religious Liberty in the States
The Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy’s Religious Liberty in
the States (RLS) is a project measuring legal safeguards for religious liberty across the United States. It allows office holders, community leaders, citizens, and scholars to compare state constitutions and statutory laws with respect to certain legal safeguards intended to protect citizens’ free exercise rights.
RLS is an index that compares the legal safeguards of free exercise in each state and ranks the 50 states accordingly. The second year of the project was launched in July of 2023, and you can watch the livestream of that event here.
The launch event included an overview of the project, an unveiling of the state rankings, and a panel discussion with Dr. Jordan Ballor,
Director of Research at the CRCD, Dr. Mark David Hall, incoming director of the RLS project, and Mr. Trey Dimsdale, executive director of the CRCD.
RLS is a project of the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy (CRCD), an initiative of First Liberty Institute.
Our Vision
The Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy envisions democratic societies which affirm the essential role of religious convictions, peoples, and institutions in cultivating free communities where all people can flourish.
Our Mission
To achieve our vision, the CRCD supports the creation and promotion of high quality scholarship at the intersection of religion, culture, and democracy. Our publications, programming, and resources affirm the importance of religion as a public good for strengthening social bonds and reinforcing foundational freedoms.