Structural Reform and Governance

Religion and Faith

Advancing a progressive vision of religious liberty and partnering with faith communities in support of all CAP’s crosscutting priorities

Protesters hold up signs that read "All Religions Welcome Here" in protest of the Trump administration's travel ban. (Getty/Win McNamee)

What We're Doing

Domestic religious liberty

We advance a progressive vision of religious freedom that affirms church-state separation and protects the rights and safety of religious minorities. We resist attempts to redefine religious liberty as a license to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people and people seeking reproductive health care.

International religious liberty

We advocate for religious freedom around the world as part of an interdependent universal human rights framework that includes LGBTQ+ rights and access to reproductive health care.

Partnerships with faith communities

Religious Americans are actively involved in advocacy for the just and equitable America envisioned by CAP’s five crosscutting priorities. We partner with faith-based organizations to harness their power for progressive change.

The Religion and Faith team advances a progressive vision of religious liberty and partners with faith communities in support of all CAP’s crosscutting priorities

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Partners

We partner with a range of faith-based organizations at the national, state, and local levels. The following list is not comprehensive, and we invite other organizations to reach out if there are ways we can collaborate.

Auburn Seminary

Auburn equips leaders with the organizational skills and spiritual resilience required to create lasting, positive impact in local communities, on the national stage, and around the world.

Faith in Public Life

Faith in Public Life is a national movement of clergy and faith leaders united in the prophetic pursuit of justice, equality, and the common good.

NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

NETWORK works to create a society that promotes justice and the dignity of all in the shared abundance of God’s creation.

Bend the Arc: Jewish Action

Bend the Arc: Jewish Action is a movement of progressive Jews across the country who are fighting for justice and equality for all.

Sojourners

Sojourners articulates the biblical call to social justice to inspire hope and build a movement to transform individuals, communities, the church, and the world.

Muslim Advocates

Muslim Advocates works in the courts, the policymaking process, and the public dialogue so American Muslims and all people can live free from discrimination.

Sikh Coalition

Through the community, courtrooms, classrooms, and Congress, the Sikh Coalition works to protect the constitutional right to practice your faith without fear.

Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism works to educate, inspire, and mobilize the Reform Jewish community to advocate for social justice.

Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is building a moral fusion movement to address interlocking injustices.

Faith in Action

This national community organizing network gives people of faith the tools that they need to fight for justice and work toward a more equitable society.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Americans United for Separation of Church and State advances the separation of religion and government as the only way to ensure freedom of religion.

Interfaith Alliance

Interfaith Alliance is the only national interfaith organization dedicated to protecting the integrity of both religion and democracy in America.

The Law, Rights, and Religion Project at Columbia Law School

This project is a law and policy think tank based at Columbia Law School that promotes social justice, freedom of religion, and religious plurality.

National Council of Jewish Women

The National Council of Jewish Women is a grassroots organization of volunteers and advocates who turn progressive ideals into action.

Emgage

Emgage educates, engages, and empowers Muslim American communities through educational events, voter initiatives, and leadership development.

Church World Service

This faith-based organization transforms communities around the globe through just and sustainable responses to hunger, poverty, displacement, and disaster.

Friends Committee on National Legislation

The Friends Committee on National Legislation lobbies Congress and the administration to advance peace, justice, and environmental stewardship.

Catholics for Choice

Catholics for Choice is a nonprofit organization that lifts up the voices of the majority of Catholics who believe in reproductive freedom.

Interfaith Power & Light

Interfaith Power & Light inspires and mobilizes people of faith and conscience to take bold and just action on climate change.

Islamic Relief USA

Islamic Relief USA provides relief and development and works to empower individuals in their communities and give them a voice in the world.

Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus

Sadhana empowers Hindu American communities to live out the values of their faith through service, community transformation, and targeted advocacy work.

American Atheists

American Atheists fights for religious equality for all Americans by protecting the wall of separation between state and church created by the First Amendment.

Coalitions

We partner with a range of faith-based coalitions. The following list is not comprehensive, and we invite other coalitions to reach out if there are ways we can collaborate.

Washington Interfaith Staff Community

This network includes more than 70 Washington offices of national religious bodies and faith-based organizations. CAP is a cooperating agency.

Faith for Equality

The Faith for Equality coalition comprises more than 120 organizations working to advance the dignity of LGBTQ people.

Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice brings the moral force of religion to protect and advance reproductive health, choice, rights, and justice.

Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence

Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence is a coalition of more than 50 faith-based organizations that together represent tens of millions of religious Americans.

Faithful Democracy

Faithful Democracy is a coalition of congregations, faith-based organizations, and religious leaders with a shared concern about the state of our democracy.

The Religious Equality and Liberty Coalition

The Religious Equality and Liberty Coalition brings together policy advocates across multiple progressive justice movements to advance religious liberty.

Featured work

About our team

The Center for American Progress is unique among many progressive organizations in understanding the role of religious communities in advancing progressive change. CAP originated its faith team shortly after the organization’s founding in 2003. Our team works to harness the power of religious communities to advocate for CAP’s five crosscutting priorities. We also support CAP’s mission by defending the rights and safety of religious minorities in the United States and around the world, while resisting attempts by Christian nationalists to redefine religious freedom as a license to discriminate.

Latest

Compact View

22 Faith Leaders To Watch in 2022 Article
Community members attend a candlelight vigil in Indianapolis.

22 Faith Leaders To Watch in 2022

There’s been no shortage of faith-based advocacy during the first year of the Biden administration.

Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, Maggie Siddiqi

A Look Back on the Biden Administration’s First Year on Religious Liberty Past Event
People protest the Muslim travel ban outside of the US Supreme Court in Washington, USA on June 26, 2018.

A Look Back on the Biden Administration’s First Year on Religious Liberty

Please join the Center for American Progress for a discussion of the Biden administration's efforts to protect the rights and safety of religious minorities and the nonreligious, here and around the world, and to safeguard the nation’s separation of church and state.

Abortion, Justice, and Religion Article
Demonstrators gather in front of U.S. Supreme Court during

Abortion, Justice, and Religion

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg of the National Council of Jewish Women shares her thoughts on Dobbs v. Jackson and the fight for abortion rights.

Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons

Christians Have a Role To Play in Defending U.S. Democracy Article
Hundreds march in Washington with event banner in front

Christians Have a Role To Play in Defending U.S. Democracy

CAP interviews one of the country’s most influential Christian leaders, the Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, to learn more about Christian political engagement at this moment in history.

Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons

Covid vaccine and mask mandates expose alt-right Christian hypocrisy In the News

Covid vaccine and mask mandates expose alt-right Christian hypocrisy

Maggie Siddiqi explains why in the face of a deadly pandemic, religion must not be used as an excuse to avoid lifesaving vaccination and mask requirements.

NBC News

Maggie Siddiqi

The Pro-Democracy Faith Movement Past Event

The Pro-Democracy Faith Movement

Join us on December 15 to hear from prominent faith leaders about America’s pro-democracy faith movement. They will share their vision for what it takes to build a more inclusive democracy based on their wisdom traditions rooted in hope, resilience, and systemic transformation.

Religious Organizations Are Integral to the Fight Against Gun Violence Report
Chaplain speaks after Harlem peace walk.

Religious Organizations Are Integral to the Fight Against Gun Violence

Religious organizations and people of faith across the country are working to heal their communities and prevent gun violence through support for broader reforms.

Maggie Siddiqi, Benjamin Fleisher

Maine Provides Leadership on Religion and Vaccines Article
View looking into a brightly lit recreation room in a church. Folding tables covered in red tablecloths and folding chairs are visible, with several people wearing masks and winter clothes are shown sitting or standing waiting for vaccinations or filling out paper forms.

Maine Provides Leadership on Religion and Vaccines

The Rev. Jane Field of the Maine Council of Churches shares her thoughts on Maine’s approach to containing COVID-19, as well as the response from religious communities in the state.

Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons

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