On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams decried a lack of prayer in schools while condemning the rise of gun violence.
Adams talked at an interfaith breakfast event about the intersection between spirituality and attaining one’s greatest potential. He believes that attending to places of worship, regardless of faith, may help relieve some of the city’s issues, such as homelessness and domestic violence.
Watch:
The NYC Mayor stated in his speech:
“Eric, the problem is you leave your best fight in the gym and you’re supposed to take it into the ring with you.” And that is what has happened to many of us. The synagogue is the gym. The church is the gym. The Sikh temple is the gym. The mosque is the gym. You are there for training. You are not there to leave your best worship in the gym. Cause if we are bringing our best fight in the ring, we would not have homeless in this city. We would not have a crisis of domestic violence. We would not have children because when we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools. So the reflection point of today, when we do an analysis of these annual coming-together, is to state, “Are we leaving our best fight in the gym? Are we finding ways to really take what we took in the gym and bring it into the real fight?”
Adams later in his address repeated the words of his main adviser and Christian chaplain, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, who spoke before him at the event and claimed the mayor’s administration “doesn’t believe” in the separation of church and state. POLITICO reported.
He also clarified that he didn’t want to hear about the separation of church and state and that he couldn’t separate his beliefs from his actions as an elected official:
Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state. State is the body. Church is the heart. You take the heart out of the body, the body dies. I can’t separate my belief because I’m an elected official. When I walk, I walk with God. When I talk, I talk with God. When I put policies in place, I put them in with a God-like approach to them. That’s who I am. – The Mayor said.
Some, like the ACLU of New York, were outraged by Adams’ remarks.
“We are a nation and a city of many religions and no faith,” stated Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the NYCLU.:
“It is odd that Mayor Adams would need a refresher on the First Amendment. After all, he has sworn to uphold the Constitution more than once, first as a police officer, later as a state representative, and then last year upon becoming mayor. The very opening passage of the Bill of Rights makes clear that church and state must be separate.
Some others agreed with Adams. “Strange to agree with Mayor Adams,” Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk tweeted:
Fabien Levy, Adams’ press secretary, stood up for the Mayor comments in an Interview with NBC News.
“The policies we make as an administration are rooted in the mayor’s belief in the creator. The mayor personally believes all of our faiths would ensure we are humane to one another,”(…) “While everyone in the room immediately understood what the mayor meant, it’s unfortunate that some have attempted to hijack the narrative in an effort to misrepresent the mayor’s comments.”
Several of the mayor’s left-wing detractors accused him of supporting right-wing Christian talking points.
Independent Writer. Marketing and communications strategist for politicians, artists, public figures & corporate brands for more than 10 years. Contact: @alejandrosbasso (Twitter)
Escritor independiente. Consultor en marketing y comunicaciones de políticos, artistas, figuras públicas y marcas por más de 10 años. Contacto: @alejandrosbasso (Twitter)