American corporations are failing when it comes to protecting free speech and religious liberty. Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) just released its second annual Viewpoint Diversity Score Business Index. The index examines 75 publicly traded corporations and rates them based on the strength of their safeguards for religious freedom and freedom of speech. Companies with no safeguards receive a 0, and those with robust safeguards are awarded 100.
Astonishingly, in a country built on these fundamental liberties, only two corporations out of 75 scored 25 or higher on the 0 to 100 scale. The two companies are Fidelity National Information Services, which earned 50%, and M&T Bank, which scored 25%.
The worst five companies were Airbnb, Amazon, Alphabet (google), eBay, and Microsoft. None of those iconic companies scored over 5%.
ADF chose the 75 companies for the survey based on those industries that have the greatest power to harm or promote freedom of speech and religion. Thus, social media platforms and banking companies were featured prominently on the list. The companies themselves provided the information by answering key questions on ADF's survey.
We commend ADF for exposing corporate indifference to religious liberty and free speech. It is particularly troubling to see abysmal scores for dozens of companies that wield great power over the ability of millions of Americans to express themselves and enjoy religious liberty. Many of these corporations, not coincidentally, score very high on surveys ranking support for LGBTQ+ demands. As the LGBTQ+ policy agenda advances, it virtually always shrinks and limits religious liberty and free speech.