About Religious Liberty
in the States
Religious Liberty in the States is a project of the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy that tracks how well each U.S. state protects religious freedom through its laws and policies. Led by Director Mark David Hall and Associate Director Paul Mueller, the project combines rigorous research with accessible insights for scholars, policymakers, and the public. The team brings academic expertise in law, history, and economics to evaluate key legal safeguards for religious exercise. CRCD, an initiative of First Liberty Institute, supports this work as part of its mission to promote religious liberty as a public good essential to a flourishing society.
Mark David Hall
Director, Religious Liberty in the States
Mark David Hall is a professor in Regent University’s Robertson School of Government and a senior research fellow at the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy. He is also affiliate faculty at George Fox University, senior fellow at Emory University’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion, and senior fellow at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion. Mark earned a BA in political science from Wheaton College (IL) and a PhD in government from the University of Virginia. He has written, edited, or co-edited fifteen books, including Who’s Afraid of Christian Nationalism? Why Christian Nationalism Is Not an Existential Threat to America or the Church (Fidelis, 2024); Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land: How Christianity Has Advanced Freedom and Equality for All Americans (Fidelis, 2023); Did America Have a Christian Founding? Separating Modern Myth from Historical Truth (Nelson, 2019); Great Christian Jurists in American History (Cambridge University Press, 2019); Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic (Oxford University Press, 2013); and The Sacred Rights of Conscience: Selected Readings on Religious Liberty and Church-State Relations in the American Founding (Liberty Fund, 2009).
Paul D. Mueller
Associate Director, Religious Liberty in the States
Paul Mueller is a research fellow at the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy and a senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. Paul received his PhD in economics from George Mason University, and he taught economics at The King’s College in New York City. His academic work has appeared in various journals and publications, including the Adam Smith Review, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, and The Review of Austrian Economics. He is also the author of Ten Years Later: Why the Conventional Wisdom about the 2008 Financial Crisis Is Still Wrong (Cambridge Scholars, 2018). He lives with his wife and five children in Leadville, CO, and owns a bed and breakfast called The Abbey.
Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy
First Liberty Institute’s Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy (CRCD) envisions democratic societies that affirm the essential role of religious convictions, peoples, and institutions in cultivating free and flourishing communities. To achieve its vision, the CRCD supports the creation and promotion of high-quality scholarship, publications, programming, and resources that affirm the importance of religion as a public good for strengthening social bonds and reinforcing foundational freedoms. First Liberty Institute is the nation’s largest legal organization exclusively defending religious liberty for all Americans. First Liberty believes that every American of any faith—or no faith at all—has a fundamental right to follow their conscience and live according to their beliefs.
