The Freedom From Religion Foundation is raising concerns after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent touting of an expanded role for faith-based recovery organizations.
At a June 18 event in Michigan, Kennedy announced a $96 million funding opportunity through the Trump administration’s Safety Through Recovery, Engagement, and Evidence-based Treatment and Support (STREETS) program, along with an additional $612 million in behavioral health funding opportunities. Kennedy emphasized that one of the initiative’s goals is to restore federal funding opportunities for faith-based groups.
“One of the features of our STREETS is opening up funding once again for faith-based organizations,” Kennedy said. “The Biden administration actively discouraged funding to faith-based organizations for recovery. We think they’re critical.”
Kennedy also dismissed evidence-based harm reduction strategies, claiming that “harm reduction doesn’t work” and attributing the nation’s addiction crisis to policies such as needle exchange programs and safe consumption sites. However, decades of research have demonstrated that syringe service programs reduce the spread of infectious diseases and connect individuals with treatment services without increasing crime.
Kennedy’s repeated reliance on spiritual and religious narratives to justify federal addiction policy is particularly troubling. During his remarks, Kennedy cited Alcoholics Anonymous and recounted a story involving psychiatrist Carl Jung’s belief that recovery from alcoholism required a “profound spiritual realignment.”
“The federal government should not be steering addiction treatment toward religious approaches,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Substance use disorders are medical conditions that require evidence-based interventions, not government-sponsored spirituality.”
This announcement follows a broader effort by the Trump administration to increase the role of religious organizations in federally funded health programs. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services formally encouraged faith-based organizations to apply for federal addiction and behavioral health grants, citing President Trump’s executive order last year directing agencies to facilitate the participation of religious entities in government programs.
FFRF has previously warned that these initiatives risk undermining constitutional safeguards and public health objectives.
“Taxpayer-funded public health programs must be secular, science-based and free from religious coercion,” Gaylor says. “Addiction recovery is a medical and public health issue, not a vehicle for government-sponsored evangelism.”
FFRF notes that while religious organizations may compete for public grants on equal terms, the Constitution prohibits the government from favoring religious providers or funding religious activities. Federal dollars may not be used to support worship, religious instruction or proselytizing.
The concerns are heightened because the Trump administration has already rescinded prior protections that required faith-based providers receiving federal funds to inform clients of secular alternatives. The administration has also affirmed that religious organizations may use religious criteria in hiring, even while operating taxpayer-funded programs.
The new initiative will award eight communities up to $3 million annually for four years to develop treatment systems for individuals experiencing homelessness, substance use disorders, serious mental illness and co-occurring conditions. FFRF stresses that any federally funded services must remain accessible to all beneficiaries regardless of religion and must adhere to established constitutional limits.
“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 substitute ideology for science.”
FFRF will continue to monitor HHS implementation of these funding programs and urges Congress and federal agencies to ensure that behavioral health 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 41,000 members, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
