Happy Religious Freedom Day

Becket’s Survey Shows Highest Level Ever for Religious Liberty

​Today we celebrate Religious Freedom Day, 2025, the anniversary of The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, Thomas Jefferson’s model for the First Amendment’s guarantee of the “free exercise” of religion. In our era, the danger to religious liberty comes not from those who would establish a theocracy for their denomination or religion, but from those who would use state power to scale back the right of Americans to engage in the free exercise of their beliefs.
 
We should heed the words of Jefferson, who as governor of Virginia disestablished the Church of England as his state’s “official” church and granted religious freedom to all Virginians. Jefferson’s proclamation denounces:
 
“The impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible[.]”
 
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently weighing whether to hear cases on the religious liberty rights of Americans at the hands of just such fallible civil officials. One case under consideration is Mahmoud v. Taylor, which concerns the rights of parents in Montgomery County, Maryland, to opt their children out of teachings about sexuality contrary to their religion. Another case, Apache Stronghold v. United States, seeks protection for the long-recognized sacred site of the Apaches in Arizona whose very existence is under threat by a mining company more concerned about profit than about the Apaches’ religious beliefs. Courts have also had to deal with the state of Maine, which continues to defy the plain language of Supreme Court precedent by isolating and defunding religious schools.
 
Every year on this day, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty releases its “Religious Freedom Index,” assessing the degree to which religious liberty is respected nationally. The news here is heartening. While bureaucrats and officials try to narrow the scope of religious liberty, a solid and growing majority of Americans understand and support religious liberty for all. In 2024, Becket’s index, based on 21 questions put to a representative sample of 1,000 Americans, revealed its highest level of support for religious freedom ever.
 
Becket’s findings include the following:

• 75 percent of Americans accept and support the freedom for people to choose a religion – up nearly 20 points since 2020.

 

• 80 percent of Americans completely or mostly support the freedom for people to run their business or private organizations according to their religious beliefs. Some 78 percent believe that this freedom is an essential or important part of religious freedom – a seven-point increase since 2020.

 

• 70 percent of Americans oppose requiring objecting religious nonprofits to cover abortions for their employees.

 

• There is strong support – 77 percent – for parental opt-outs from instruction on sexuality, as parents are seeking in the Mahmoud case

 
Most interesting of all, even Gen Z’s support for religious freedom is growing. Becket’s survey also finds that a plurality of Americans looks first to the courts to safeguard religious freedom over state governments, Congress, and even the president. This confidence will only be bolstered if the U.S. Supreme Court decides to take up both Mahmoud and Apache.
 
As Thomas Jefferson put it, “Truth is great, and will prevail if left to herself.”

DONATE & HELP US PROTECT YOUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS