Support for religious freedom up 5 points from 2020, reaching a high of 71

By Tate Miller
The Center Square

Support for religious freedom grew five points from 2020 to 2025, reaching an all-time cumulative high of 71 points, according to Becket’s seventh annual Religious Freedom Index.

Strategic research associate for Becket Derringer Dick told The Center Square that “this year’s high of 71 indicates strong support” for religious liberty.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is “a non-profit, public-interest legal and educational institute” dedicated to protecting freedom of religion, according to its website.

Dick told The Center Square that the fact the Index’s score “has risen from a low…of 66 in 2020 shows that support for the principles of religious freedom have grown.”

“The Index is designed to have an intuitive score from zero to 100, where zero represents no support for the principles of religious liberty and 100 indicates complete support,” Dick said.

Dick told The Center Square that “religious freedom benefits society tremendously.”

He said that religious liberty benefits society “first by ensuring that groups with differing beliefs about God can coexist peacefully, and second by protecting the right of those groups to live out their faith in the public square.”

“Religious organizations, such as churches, schools, charities, hospitals and other ministries provide a multitude of services to millions of Americans each year, and religious freedom is what ensures that they can meet those needs,” Dick said.

“Americans rally around religious freedom,” Dick said. “This year we found that Americans sided with the Supreme Court’s decisions upholding religious parents’ rights in Mahmoud v. Taylor and protecting religious charities in Catholic Charities v. Wisconsin.”

“It is a good sign for our nation that so many Americans can come together in support of one of our oldest and most ennobling principles,” Dick said.

Becket’s seventh annual Religious Freedom Index is “the nation’s only annual poll that tracks American opinion on religious freedom,” according to a press release.

The high overall score of 71 demonstrates “that Americans are increasingly unified in supporting religious liberty for people of all faiths,” the release said.

Three key trends were revealed by the 2025 Index, the release stated.

The trends were “increased support for Americans’ freedom to bring their faith into the public square, continued backing for parents’ rights to guide their children’s education, and broad approval of Supreme Court decisions that protect religious freedom.”

The Index also revealed that “fifty-seven percent agree that religious freedom is inherently public and that Americans should be free to share their faith in public spaces,” the release said.

This is a five-point rise from 2020, according to the release.

Additionally, according to the Index, there has been “continued growth in support for parents’ rights to guide their children’s education.”

73% of Americans agree that “parents should be able to opt their children out of public-school material they believe is inappropriate,” the release said, a percentage that is “up 10 points since 2021.”

President and CEO of Becket Mark Rienzi said in the release that “it’s encouraging to see that a growing number of Americans reject the idea that faith belongs behind closed doors.”

“The Founders recognized that our nation is stronger when we allow our neighbors to bring their beliefs into the public square without fear, even when those beliefs cut against the grain,” Rienzi said.