The Freedom From Religion Foundation has raised the alarm after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services formally invited faith-based organizations to apply for federal addiction and behavioral health funding.
According to statements from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, faith-based organizations that meet “evidence-based addiction recovery standards” are encouraged to apply for federal grants. SAMHSA and the Administration for Children and Families, which together oversee more than $138 billion in grants, have emphasized “full participation” by religious groups pursuant to President Trump’s February 2025 executive order directing agencies to facilitate the active involvement of faith-based entities in government programs. These moves follow remarks by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that the administration is “bringing faith-based providers fully into this work.”
Such shenanigans clearly reveal a theocratic tilt.
“Taxpayer-funded public health programs must be secular, science-based and free from religious coercion,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Addiction recovery is a medical and public health issue, not a vehicle for government-sponsored evangelism.”
FFRF stresses that while religious organizations are not categorically barred from competing for public funds, the Constitution requires strict neutrality. Federal funds may not be used to advance religion, and beneficiaries must never be subjected to religious pressure, proselytizing or discrimination as a condition of receiving services.
The Trump administration has already revoked prior safeguards that required faith-based providers to offer referrals to secular alternatives when clients objected to the religious nature of services. It has also affirmed that religious organizations may use religious criteria in hiring, even when operating taxpayer-funded programs.
“That combination is deeply troubling,” says FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott. “When you remove referral protections and allow religious discrimination in hiring, you create a system where vulnerable people seeking addiction treatment may have nowhere to turn but religious programs that do not respect their beliefs or their rights.”
FFRF notes that direct government funding cannot subsidize religious worship, instruction or proselytization. And the government may not favor religious providers over secular nonprofits.
“Federal health dollars should expand access to proven, inclusive treatment,” Gaylor adds. “They must not be diverted into programs that impose religious doctrine, exclude qualified staff based on faith, or deny medically accurate care.”
FFRF is monitoring HHS implementation of this initiative and will take action if constitutional safeguards are violated. The organization urges Congress and federal agencies to ensure that all addiction recovery funding remains evidence-based, nondiscriminatory — and firmly grounded in the separation of state and church.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With about 42,000 members, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
