Arkansas has claimed the number-one ranking in the nation for religious liberty, scoring 89.2% on the First Liberty Institute's annual Religious Liberty in the States index and becoming one of only two states to earn the index's first-ever "excellent" rating. The rise, a six-spot jump from the prior year, followed a string of legislative victories signed into law by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
The ranking is not honorary. First Liberty's index measures states against 50 specific legal protections spread across 20 religious liberty safeguards covering education, healthcare, family law, economic activity, and daily life. Arkansas didn't inch forward. It vaulted past the competition after lawmakers approved several measures expanding legal protections for religious exercise and conscience rights.
Two pieces of legislation drove much of that climb. The Conscience Protection Act, signed by Sanders in 2023, expanded Arkansas' existing Religious Freedom Restoration Act by prohibiting state government discrimination against religious organizations based on their religious identity or status. Act 677, signed more recently, went further, barring state and local governments from penalizing individuals, businesses, or religious organizations for acting on their beliefs regarding marriage and biological sex.
The governor left no ambiguity about where she stands. As Fox News Digital reported, Sanders framed the ranking as a direct result of her administration's philosophy on the origin of individual rights.
"Religious liberty is America's First Freedom, and Arkansas is leading the nation in protecting it. Our rights come from God, not government, and every American should be free to live according to their faith and conscience. We'll continue defending that freedom and ensuring the Natural State remains the best place in the country to live, work and worship."
That is not boilerplate. It is a governing framework, one that has produced measurable legislative results and, now, a national ranking to match.
Sanders has also shown she will not bend when secular advocacy groups come calling. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a group that advocates for the separation of church and state, demanded she reverse a proclamation closing state offices for Christmas, claiming the proclamation was unconstitutional. Sanders rejected the demand outright in a December response letter, previously obtained by Fox News Digital.
In that letter, Sanders pushed back on the constitutional claims and offered a pointed defense of public expressions of faith.
"Only by voicing our own faith and celebrating other faiths can we make our state's diverse religious communities feel seen and heard."
That exchange tells you something about the difference between states that protect religious liberty and states that retreat from it the moment a pressure group sends a letter. Sanders chose not to retreat.
Kelly Shackelford, president, CEO, and chief counsel at First Liberty, framed the Arkansas model as one worth replicating. He said other states should "strengthen religious liberty protections in their own states."
"Religious liberty is best protected when leaders are willing to act before the rights of people of faith are threatened."
That word, "before", matters. Shackelford's point is that Arkansas didn't wait for a court battle or a federal mandate. The state built its protections proactively, through legislation, at the state level. That is the federalist model working exactly as designed.
Dr. Mark David Hall, director of the Religious Liberty in the States project, reinforced that idea. He described states as "laboratories of liberty" and said Arkansas demonstrates how states can protect what he called "the sacred right of conscience," allowing people to practice their faith not just at church but in their everyday lives.
"States have always served as laboratories of liberty, and this year's results show why that matters."
Dr. Paul D. Mueller, associate director of the project, emphasized the index's value as a tool for both citizens and lawmakers. His framing was practical, not ideological.
"With this index, citizens and legislators can see where their state is doing well, where it still has room to improve, and which existing laws could help better protect the right of conscience."
The Religious Liberty in the States index is not a popularity poll or a think-tank opinion survey. It evaluates concrete legal protections, 50 of them, across 20 categories. Those categories span education, healthcare, family law, economic activity, and other areas where religious exercise intersects with government authority.
Arkansas' 89.2% score earned it the "excellent" designation, a tier that had never been awarded in the index's history until this year. Only one other state, unnamed in the Fox News Digital report, also reached that threshold.
The state's six-spot climb from the prior year's rankings reflects the tangible impact of the legislation Sanders signed. Act 677 and the Conscience Protection Act were the headline measures, but Fox News Digital noted that Arkansas lawmakers approved "several measures" expanding protections, suggesting the legislative effort was broader than just two bills.
Arkansas' ascent is worth considering alongside the trajectory of states that have moved in the opposite direction on conscience protections. While the index's full state-by-state results were not detailed in the report, the fact that "excellent" had never been awarded before this year suggests most states have significant room to improve.
The FFRF episode is instructive. Organizations like the Freedom From Religion Foundation operate in every state, pressing governors and legislatures to strip public life of religious expression. In many states, officials fold. Sanders wrote a letter back and defended the proclamation. That posture, combined with actual legislation, is what moved the needle.
The Conscience Protection Act's prohibition on state discrimination against religious organizations based on their identity or status addresses a specific and growing threat. Across the country, faith-based organizations have faced exclusion from government contracts, adoption and foster care systems, and public accommodations frameworks because of their religious convictions. Arkansas closed that door at the state level.
Act 677 addressed another pressure point: the use of government penalties against individuals and businesses who hold traditional beliefs about marriage and biological sex. Whether one agrees with those beliefs or not, the legal question is whether the state should punish people for holding them. Arkansas answered no.
Shackelford's call for other states to follow Arkansas is a challenge, not just a compliment. The reality is that most state legislatures have not moved with the same urgency on religious liberty protections. Some have moved in the opposite direction, narrowing conscience exemptions or declining to update their Religious Freedom Restoration Acts.
Arkansas had an existing RFRA on the books. Sanders and the legislature chose to expand it rather than let it gather dust. That is a choice other governors could make. Whether they will is another question.
The index gives them a scoreboard. Mueller's point, that citizens and legislators can now see exactly where their state stands, puts the information in the open. States that score poorly can no longer claim ignorance. They can only claim indifference.
Religious liberty is the first clause of the First Amendment for a reason. Arkansas just proved that protecting it takes more than rhetoric, it takes legislation, a governor willing to sign it, and the backbone to tell pressure groups no.
