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Senior Airman Sterling Sutton, U.S. Air Force photo | DVIDS
by Steve Wilson, for The Center Square
(The Center Square) — Florida finished first nationally for its policies on the protection of religious liberty, according to a recent report from the Center for Religion, Culture and Democracy.
The annual report, Religious Liberty in the States, measures legal safeguards for religious liberty in the US. The report says the Sunshine State protects 75% of the legal safeguards that it measures and uses to compare states.
Last year, the Sunshine State finished second and eighth in 2023.
“And if you go back to the founding of our country, religious liberty, what was basically the first freedom that the Founding Fathers sought to protect, and of course, religious freedom was part of the reason people even settled in the American colonies to begin with,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at an event in Sarasota on Monday. “So this is something that is central to the American experiment. It’s central to our way of life, but it is something that has really been under assault in recent years, particularly over the last decade or so, and I’m just proud to say we have a strong record of protecting this first freedom throughout the state of Florida.”
Kelly Shackelford, the president, CEO and general counsel of First Liberty, thanked DeSantis for his commitment to religious liberty.
“Two years ago, Florida wasn’t even in the top five. But this year, Florida has vaulted in the first place, and that doesn’t happen without a governor who embraces religious freedom,” Shackelford said. “And so I just, I just want to say thank you to you for your commitment to religious freedom and for your incredible leadership and bringing Florida to number one in the country. Every citizen and business in Florida can know they have the most religious freedom protections than any other state in the nation.”
The fourth annual report expanded its index with eight new measures, increasing them to 47 and adding four more safeguards for a total of 20. The new safeguards include medical conscience protections that permit individuals to opt out of the disposal of abortion remains and participating in euthanasia.
Another safeguard would protect counselors from advising clients about goals, outcomes or behaviors that conflict with the counselor’s principles.
The report also added laws prohibiting financial and insurance companies from discriminating against clients because of their religious commitments.
Also included were laws protecting the rights of parents to opt their children out of sexual education, the right of student athletes to wear religious attire, and the right of current or prospective foster parents not to affirm, accept, or support any government policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with their beliefs.
Some of the other safeguards listed by the report included state policies on absentee voting, general conscience, abortion refusal, sterilization refusal, contraception refusal, health insurance mandates, non-participation by clergy, religious entity refusal, public office recusal, for-profit business nonparticipation, clergy as mandatory reporters, houses of worship protected from closure, ceremonial use of alcohol by minors, childhood immunization requirements and excused absences for religious reasons.
Following Florida in the top five were: Montana with a 70.6% score, Illinois (68.8%), Ohio (66.9%) and Mississippi (66.4%).
The worst state was West Virginia at 19.6%, followed by Wyoming (23.3%), Michigan (27.4%), Nebraska (29.1%) and Vermont (29.3%).
The most improved states were Montana, with a 30.8% improvement over last year’s score, followed by South Carolina at 29.6% and Florida’s increase by 16.6%.
Three states, Mississippi, Kansas and Pennsylvania, had the biggest drop offs, with the Magnolia State having a 15.4% decrease in its score.
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Categories: Faith
Interesting statistic from a State who’s politicians, both Federal and State brag about supporting the Constitution and ‘Democracy’, but fail to recognize the number 1 (and number 2 for that matter) Constitutional guarantee and basic human right!
Seems to me that religious institutions are free to take in money while not paying taxes on their holdings which means that all off us have to pay more to support government services. I’m a believer in the freedom to practice whatever religion you want but I’m not a believer in having to tacitly support your choice.
It is important to consider why this is the case. Blaming pagans for this situation will do nothing to change it for the better. This represents a huge problem with the churches in Vermont. They have forgotten the clear meaning of their number one calling, which is to make-disciples of nations who understand all of God’s ways and live them out. If there is truth, and most churchgoers will say they is and it is from God, but if so, then what is the rationale for not presenting and rationally promoting those truths and how they might apply in the public square. Why would not every church in Vermont be actively training people in their church to understand that the Biblical teachings apply to all areas of life and society and grow public servants who are well grounded in the realities for how the world was created to function.
Instead, what we have in Vermont, and in far too many churches across our nation, is church after church that has no idea their purpose is to shape the thinking of the world, toward how to live for a more abundant and peaceful life. The thinking of most Christian churchgoers is largely from a fortress mentality waiting on a theory that they will be rescued by a rapture. It is all highly speculative and has been wrong again and again over the centuries and put into question the very credibility of what is taught in church. You can only be wrong so many times and still be listened to. And what sort of a hopeful message is it that the ideas of your belief system cannot do any good in this life, but are just to get you through and into the next. Christianity is indeed far bigger than most Christians understand. It is an exciting faith because it is rooted in truth, agrees with human experience and has been proven to produce the most free, prosperous and peaceful nation on earth, in spite of the selfish and often destructive nature of man. If you want young people, which Vermont does not really have these days, to be attracted to a church, that church must be about understanding and applying Biblical teaching to life on earth, not just life in eternity … and that is very much part of what Jesus was giving the authority to accomplish in Matthew 28.
We live in very exciting times. The fruit from trying to function on lies is clear to see. The only question is, are those in the churches aware that they actually have answers and very attractive answers to all but the most deranged minds, those given over to futile thinking, as stated in Romans 1. Don’t be concerned with them, help the rest and maybe even some of them will somehow breakout of their insanity.