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.
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.
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.
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Biden-Pope Francis visit couldn’t come at a better time
Authors Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons and Maggie Siddiqi discuss why President Joe Biden's meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican is an important opportunity for the two leaders and a chance for Biden, in particular, to refocus on what drives his administration.
Faith groups across the board are advocating for climate justice, including through the investments in the bipartisan infrastructure framework and reconciliation packages.
How an upcoming Supreme Court decision on ‘religious freedom’ could undermine religious freedom
Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons and David Key urge communities of faith to pay attention to the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia and its potential implications for religious freedom.
Conservatives opposing the Equality Act don’t speak for most people of faith, and they know it
Author Guthrie Grave-Fitzsimmons examines the opposition to the Equality Act by members of the religious right and argues that they do not speak for the broader religious community, which overwhelmingly supports LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections.
