Case Study
Becket
ISSUES + ADVOCACY
Foundations + Philanthropies
The Religious Freedom Index: American Perspectives on the First Amendment
THE CHALLENGE
A religious freedom study in 2014 revealed a sizable concern that people of faith are more a part of the problem rather than the solution when it comes to issues facing our nation. Support for principles and tenets of religious freedom continued to erode over the following years.
In 2019, the Becket Fund launched the first wave of its Religious Freedom Index. The Index was created by Dr. Dee Allsop and identifies the distinct and specific dimensions of religious freedom and our performance as a country on each. This study tracks key metrics over time as well as custom topical questions to dive deeper into key issues of religious freedom currently in the news and pending litigation in the court system.
OUR STRATEGY
The questions asked in the Index measure American sentiment across six dimensions of religious freedom and contribute to an annual composite Index score on a scale from 0 to 100 where 0 indicates complete opposition to principles of religious freedom and 100 indicates complete support. The six dimensions measured are: 1) Religious Pluralism, 2) Religion and Policy, 3) Religious Sharing, 4) Religion in Society, 5) Church and State, and 6) Religion in Action.
The Index surveys a nationally representative sample of 1000 adults each October.
IMPACT
The Religious Freedom Index full report is publicly released every January, with tracking data showing trends in American support for religious liberty in the country. The data are informative on public opinion regarding a variety of policies; i.e.– ability of parents to opt out their children age-inappropriate sex education, requiring religious employers to provide abortion coverage for employees, etc. It also includes valuable trend data on the importance of religion and religious attendance and other faith practices among Americans.
