South Carolina ranks seventh for religious liberty

(The Center Square) — South Carolina ranked among the best states for protecting religious liberty, coming in seventh on a ranking of all 50 states.

The Palmetto State earned a score of 63.7%, ranking it just ahead of Utah and just behind Ohio, according to the third annual "Religious Liberty in the States" from the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy, an initiative of First Liberty Institute. The index explores legislation in all 50 states and how it protects religious liberty.

The project assesses 39 legal provisions safeguarding religious liberty that states can implement, including absentee voting, abortion refusal and excused absences from school for religious observances or instruction. The project aggregates the provisions into 16 "safeguards" and averages them to produce a state’s index score.

"South Carolina deserves great credit for passing laws ensuring that all citizens can act according to their religious convictions," Mark David Hall, project director for Religious Liberty in the States, told The Center Square via email. "In 2022, the state was ranked 38th in the nation, but it skyrocketed to 2nd place in 2023.

"The state did not have several of the new protections we added for RLS 2024, so it drifted down to 7th place," Hall added. "Legislators should consider adding laws protecting individuals and institutions from being compelled to participate in wedding ceremonies to which they have religious objections."

At 80.4%, Illinois topped the index nationally, ahead of Florida, Montana and Arkansas. Conversely, West Virginia ranked at the bottom of the list, behind Alaska, California and Vermont.

According to the project, lawmakers in the Land of Lincoln adopted most of its religious liberty protections between 1934 and 1998, an era when the Prairie State was more conservative. However, the state hasn’t adopted new protections, dropping its score from 85%.