Scorecards
State Ratings & Scorecards
The State of the Secular States report identifies four areas of public policy in each state that affect religious equality: Constitutional & Nondiscrimination Protections, Education & Youth, Health Care & Wellness, and Special Privileges for Religion.
We assess more than 50 related law and policy measures in each state as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. The states have been grouped into three broad categories, but they have not been individually ranked.
Strong Protections for Religious Equality
In addition to strong constitutional protections that protect the separation of religion and government, states in this category have laws and policies that protect individuals from religion-based harm, such as child marriage or conversion therapy. Generally, these states allow few religious exemptions or special privileges for religion.
Basic Separation of Religion and Government
States in this category may have constitutional provisions that protect religious equality by ensuring the separation of religion and government, but they have few laws to protect individuals from religion-based harm. These states generally have at least some religious exemptions or special privileges for religion.
Religious Exemptions That Undermine Equality
States in this category have several laws that establish religious exemptions or special privileges for religion and provide few protections for the separation of religion and government. Some of these states have passed laws to promote false Christian nationalist narratives, to allow religious exemptions to civil rights protections, or to enshrine particular religious views into the law.
