New York City Mayor Eric Adams defended his comments a week earlier in which he rejected the separation of church and state, a principle critical to America’s founding.
On Feb. 28, the Democratic mayor told those attending the annual interfaith breakfast that he “cannot separate” his Christian faith from the duties of government.
“Don’t talk about no separation of church and state. The state is the body; the church is the heart. You take the heart out of the body, the body dies,” to the religious leaders at an event held at the main branch of the New York Public Library.
“I cannot separate my beliefs because I am an elected official. When I walk, I walk with God. When I speak, I speak with God. When I implement policies, I make a God-like approach to them – I am ,” he said, adding that “when we prayed outside the school, the gun came into the school.”
The comments received applause from the audience, but a video of Adams’ words drew backlash from critics who said the mayor was not upholding the US Constitution, which calls for the separation of religion from government under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
On Sunday, Adams defend his comments by saying that he is motivated by faith but that he will not force others to do the same.
“Well, listen, let me explain. The last words I said after I took the oath were ‘so help me Lord.’ On our dollar bill we have ‘In God you trust.’ Every president touched a religious book during the oath, except for three, “the mayor told Dana Bash on CNN” State of the Union.
“Faith is who I am, and anyone who takes that word as I say that I will try to force people to follow my religion, no. I am a child of God, I believe everything. I want to follow the law. I will not force people who believe in any faith. It may be that you are in a synagogue, a Baptist church, a Buddhist temple, I am in all of them. And that is what I am at my service.
But when Bash pressed him that he believed in the separation of church and state, Adams gave an answer full of contradictions.
“No, what I want is that you cannot separate your faith. The government should not interfere with religion, and religion should not interfere with the government. But I believe my faith … drives me in terms of how I manage and what I do,” Adams said.
“But one of the foundations of the Constitution is the separation of church and state when governing. When I just asked you, you said no. This will alarm some people,” said Bash.
“Not. But here’s what I’m talking about. I want to be very clear, so that there are no mistakes,” answered the mayor. “The government should not interfere with religion, religion should not interfere with the government. It can’t happen. And it probably won’t happen. But my faith is how to implement practices and policies, such as helping the homeless, such as making sure that we show compassion in what we do in our city.