By Lex Colleen
New York City Mayor Eric Adams does not believe in the separation of church and state. This is not a conspiracy theory, or something that opponents made up to discredit Adams, as he has alleged in the past, but something he has openly talked about multiple times. In fact, he stated at an interfaith breakfast in February 2023, “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.”
Statements like this demonstrate a lack of support for people’s right to not believe, and obviously there can be no separation of church and state if people do not have the freedom to be non-religious. Even in a more progressive city like New York, we have to push back on attacks on church-state separation.
New York City is not typically known for its issues with church-state separation, but the issue has been talked about more recently due to the fear that the way Adams talks about religion is too closely mirroring the wave of white Christian Nationalism that is spreading across the nation and tied to the far right and Trumpism. Adams himself is also becoming very cozy with Trump, who has said he would pardon Adams, who is under indictment for bribery and campaign finance issues.
Advocates and activists have been taking note of Adams’ disregard for church-state separation since he took office, but the wider public is starting to notice it as well. This is evidenced by multiple articles being written by reputable sources such as City and State, The New York Times, The Guardian, Gotham Gazette, and Politico, as well as news outlets covering stories regarding this issue, such as CNN, MSNBC, Spectrum NY, and Pix 11. Further, some organizations have made statements condemning the mayor’s actions such as the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Americans United, the Center for Freethought Equality and the ACLU.
Adams has even gone as far as to say he was given a “divine message” to talk about god while he is in office, that his path to the mayoralty was divinely ordained and that he employs a godlike approach when implementing his policies. While he has the right to hold his own faith, the city’s policies should be what’s best for all and not a tool to impose a particular ideology. When faced with criticism and backlash, the mayor chooses to double down on his stance and continues to meld politics and the pulpit by saying that “God has spoken to him” on occasions. He even got baptized on Rikers Island along with 11 men who were being detained there.
To make matters worse, Adams has blamed lack of religion for political issues that are completely unrelated. For example, he said, “When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools.” As an atheist and an activist, I find this not only offensive, but also inaccurate. However, Eric Adams is certainly not the first to claim we need religion in schools, and he seems to be in line with the wave of Christian Nationalism sweeping the nation. He is one of many elected officials trying to put Christian faith in public schools, although we normally see this more by conservative legislators in red states such as Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Arizona and Utah.
New York is a historically blue state, and Adams is a Democrat, but his rhetoric has been indistinguishable from far-right messaging and the GOP, which sees school prayer as a culture war issue. It seems to be lost on him that mass shootings have happened in religious schools and houses of worship, including churches and mosques, and not just secular institutions.
In fact, most people of faith, including the majority of Christians, support the separation of church and state, and Adams is an outlier in his stances. Even some religious leaders in New York have made statements condemning the mayor’s disregard for church-state separation and have shown their full support for keeping god out of government.
As with any other American, Adams is entitled to his religious beliefs, but when he starts trying to impose it on others as an elected official, or weave it into policy, New Yorkers should have no problem pushing back.
Lex Colleen, MSW, is a member of Americans United’s Youth Organizing Fellowship. She is a social worker and community organizer from New York City.
Photo: Eric Adams addresses a prayer breakfast in New York City. By Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
