N.C. ranks 30th for religious liberty, according to watchdog group | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal. The author of this post is David Larson.

    According to the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy's annual Religious Liberty in the States index, North Carolina is ranked 30th of 50. The group ranked state's based on 29 items broken into six main categories to see how minority religious views were protected.

    North Carolina received a score of 34%, with many of the items left unchecked. Within the six categories, N.C. got passing marks for providing absentee voting and exemptions from childhood immunization requirements, but were dinged for not having a religious freedom restoration act (RFRA) or an employer exemption from the contraception mandate in Obamacare. Other areas were mixed, with a 1/5 score for marriage-and-wedding participation and a 5/20 score for exemptions for health-care providers.

    The top three states were Mississippi, Illinois, and New Mexico, and the bottom three were New York, West Virginia, and California, showing a mix of red and blue states at the top and bottom of the list.

    Those wanting to see the full rankings can visit the RLS website here.