Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., recently sponsored a bill that attempts to amend the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for the first time in 46 years – and remove religious exemptions for faith-based organizations that receive federal funds.
According to the bill, it would affect “licensed professional counselors, marriage and family therapists, pastoral counselors, psychosocial rehabilitation specialists, and any other individual determined to be appropriate by the Secretary.”
Steve McFarland, chief legal officer for World Vision, said this bill has huge implications for religious organizations across the country. Faith-based groups are worried that when Congress returns in mid-September, the Democrats may attempt to, through a simple budget resolution, implement the dangerous language throughout all levels of government.
“It’s not just the organizations that receive federal money that has something to lose here,” McFarland said, “but every religious citizen and organization, because what would be amended is the statutory protection in federal law for all religious exercise.”
He also pointed out the problem lawmakers have in suggesting such a change.
“Every member of Congress asks – and discriminates against –job applicants based on their political persuasion. Even Planned Parenthood asks where your politics are with respect to the sanctity of human life,” he said. “It’s about deciding who shares your mission and who you want to be representing your mission.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Read HR 5466.
Read the U.S. Department of Justice’s “Effect of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act on Faith-Based Applicants for Grants.”
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