(The Center Square) – Louisiana is ranked 27th in a report from the Center for Religion, Culture and Democracy on religious liberty.
The report measures 16 legal protections for religious liberty. These include policies on absentee voting; general conscience protections; abortion refusal; sterilization refusal; contraception refusal; health insurance mandates; nonparticipation by clergy in weddings to which they object; 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; the passage of laws like the Religious Freedom Restoration Act; childhood immunization requirements; and excused absences for religious reasons.
According to project director Mark David Hall, there is plenty of room for improvement for the Pelican State, which only has 41.8% of the 16 measured protections on the books.
“Louisiana has ranked 27th in the nation for the past three years. It has passed only 42% of the safeguards RLS considers,” Hall told The Center Square. “The state should follow Florida’s lead and pass general conscience and hospital protections in 2024. Doing so would not only improve its rankings; it would ensure that medical professionals and institutions are not forced to violate their sincerely held convictions.”
Illinois, Florida, Montana and Arkansas are the top five states for religious freedom, with Mississippi and Ohio tied for fifth.
West Virginia was ranked last ahead of Alaska, California, Vermont and Wyoming.
According to the report, Florida improved by more than 13%, moving to second with an overall score of 73.2%. Illinois led 80.4%. Data further shows that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is law in half of states.
Most states have health insurance mandates (89% of states) while the immunization requirement exemption is in 88% of states. Eighty-four percent of states allow absentee voting.