By: Christopher Ingraham
ST. PAUL, Minn. (Minnesota Reformer) – Minnesota earns high marks for policies and constitutional protections for the separation of church and state, according to the latest annual rankings from American Atheists, a nonprofit advocacy group.
Minnesota is one of 15 states — and alone in the upper Midwest — with what the organization calls strong protections for religious equality.
“In addition to strong constitutional protections that protect the separation of religion and government,” the report authors write, “states in this category have laws and policies that protect individuals from religion-based harm, such as child marriage or conversion therapy. Generally, these states allow few religious exemptions or special privileges for religion.”
A dozen states, including neighboring Wisconsin, are rated as having “basic separation of religion and government.” And 25 more, including both Dakotas and Iowa, are characterized by religious exemptions that undermine equality.
Minnesota received high marks for nondiscrimination laws in housing, employment and education. Recent legislative efforts to protect abortion access, ban so-called conversion therapy for LGBTQ children, and ban child marriage, also factor in the state’s favor.
School policies, including a notable absence of bans on certain books or “divisive topics” that have been popular in conservative-led states in recent years, also account for some of Minnesota’s high marks.
“America’s public schools are cornerstones of our communities and our democracy, serving 90% of our nation’s children and teens,” said American Atheists communications director Melina Cohen, in a statement. “We as a nation should be proud of our nonsectarian, inclusive public schools. Instead, we are seeing more and more legislative attempts to inject religion into publicly funded classrooms and divert public funds to discriminatory religious schools.”
The report is especially focused on the rise and government embrace of white Christian nationalism in many conservative states. Politicians sympathetic to those views have, among other things in recent years, mandated the teaching of the Bible in public schools, imposed punitive abortion bans, restricted access to certain books, and limited the availability of medical care for transgender people.
“In the weeks and months ahead, Americans who value their First Amendment rights must understand their state legislatures are increasingly the last bulwark against religious extremism,” said Nick Fish, president of American Atheists, in a statement. “We know what the federal government, led by Donald Trump and the architects of Project 2025, have planned.”
A 2024 Public Religion Research Institute survey found that close to 30% of Minnesotans espoused Christian nationalist views, including the belief that laws should be based on Christian values. Among Republicans, the share adhering to Christian nationalist views was greater than 50%.
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