Roll tide: Alabama leads 2025 Faith and Freedom Index

When it comes to passing state laws that protect faith and freedom, Alabama is tough to beat.

For the third year in a row, the Southern state led the Napa Legal Institute’s Faith and Freedom Index, topping the rankings of 50 states and the District of Columbia on laws affecting religious-based nonprofit organizations.

Right behind Alabama was Kansas, while Michigan and Washington state brought up the rear with laws that “overburden and are even hostile towards faith-based nonprofits,” said the institute.

Alabama led all states with a 72% score, followed by Kansas with 69%, while Washington had 35% and Michigan took last place with 31%.

The rankings released Monday are based on laws regarding religious freedom as well as the regulatory climate for faith-based nonprofits, including requirements on internal governance, charitable registration, audits, and taxes.

“The sheer amount of work that gets done by faith-based nonprofit organizations — educating our children, feeding our hungry, housing our homeless and taking care of single mothers who are in problematic circumstances — all across the board, the amount that’s done for society by religious organizations is huge,” said Frank DeVito, the D.C.-based institute’s senior counsel and director of content.

“Unchaining them so they can actually do this work, without spending their time and their resources on all these administrative burdens and fear of lawsuits, it’s a really huge difference, not just for the good of religious organizations themselves, but for society at large,” he said on a Monday press call.

He emphasized the importance of passing robust state laws even under a religion-friendly climate in the White House.

“The many religious freedom attacks over the past few years are chilling reminders that without staunch state-level protections for religious freedom, ordinary Americans will suffer, regardless of how supportive the current Administration may be,” Mr. DeVito said.

The institute cited the Washington state law passed in May that requires priests to break the seal of confession in child-abuse cases. The state backed down earlier this month after a judge ruled in favor of Catholic dioceses that sued to block the law.

In July, the Supreme Court ruled against Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland for refusing to permit parents to opt their children out of lessons using LGBTQ books for religious reasons.

“From Catholic priests in Washington to concerned parents in Montgomery County, Maryland — incidents from two of the lowest scoring states on the 2025 Faith and Freedom Index — too many Americans have been forced to spend precious time and money litigating issues that should never have gone to court in the first place,” Mr. DeVito said.

Although Maryland, which scored 38%, and Washington are both blue states, not all the lowest-scoring jurisdictions are run by Democrats.

Republican-led West Virginia also recorded one of the index’s weakest scores, bringing up the rear along with Democrat-heavy Illinois and Massachusetts.

In addition, the institute said, “New York state receives a higher score than Alaska, Tennessee, and South Carolina. Connecticut and Illinois have Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, while Alaska and Ohio do not.”

What’s more, “Hawaii and Maine have stronger employment law protections for religious organizations than South Dakota and West Virginia,” the institute said.

Maryland scored 38%, while Virginia notched 49% and the District registered 47%.

Mr. DeVito said he hoped lawmakers would use the index “to see where they must add protections, strengthen existing state laws, or repeal harmful state laws.”

“We must seize this moment, especially given the current presidential administration and a Supreme Court that continues to champion religious freedom, to enact stalwart, enduring state protections that will protect the rights of Americans for generations to come,” he said.