A newly released study indicates that a majority of Americans approve of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that strengthen parental rights and religious freedom, particularly in cases involving objections to instruction related to LGBT issues.
Timed to coincide with International Religious Freedom Day, Becket published its 2025 Religious Freedom Index last Friday, offering insight into how Americans view a wide range of church–state and religious liberty issues.
The findings are drawn from a nationwide survey of 1,002 adults conducted in the fall of 2025 by Heart+Mind Strategies.
One focus of the survey was public reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which held that a Maryland public school violated parents’ religious freedom by refusing to allow opt-outs from LGBT-related lessons. According to the data, 62% of respondents said they supported the ruling.
Support was even stronger for the Court’s decision in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin. Sixty-five percent of those surveyed agreed with the justices’ ruling overturning a lower court decision that had found Catholic Charities’ service to the poor did not qualify as religious activity under state unemployment law.
By contrast, Americans were closely split over Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, in which the Supreme Court allowed a lower court ruling to stand barring a Catholic charter school from participating in Oklahoma’s charter school program. The poll found that 51% opposed the outcome, while 49% supported it.
The survey also measured public opinion on pending cases before the Court. In Chiles v. Salazar, which involves a dispute between Colorado and a Christian counselor who helps minors with gender dysphoria become comfortable with their biological sex, respondents leaned toward the counselor’s position. Forty-seven percent said the Court should rule in her favor, compared with 29% who supported the state.
Becket’s overall Religious Freedom Index is calculated from responses across six categories: religious pluralism, religion and policy, religious sharing, religion and society, church and state, and religion in action.
For 2025, the composite index reached 71, the highest score recorded since Becket began conducting the survey in 2019.
Several individual categories also reached record highs this year. Religious sharing scored 75, religion and policy reached 69, and church and state climbed to 60. Religious pluralism again posted its highest-ever score at 86 for the second consecutive year.
Not all categories increased, however. The religion in action score declined slightly from 70 to 69, while religion and society fell from 67 to 65, suggesting modest softening in those areas despite the overall upward trend.
