This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated March 10, 2023
On Tuesday, February 28, Mayor Adams did something very typical for government executives. He held a breakfast with faith-based leaders. However, he took that opportunity to say several things that are extremely atypical for a democratically elected official in the United States. Among them, that his ascension to the highest office in the city was the work of God hand-picking him for the job, and that there should be no separation of church and state.
Religious leaders and faith-based organizations play an important role in our city. Besides tending to residents’ spiritual needs, their charitable work for all New Yorkers is undeniable. The annual interfaith breakfast hosted by the mayor is a longstanding tradition that recognizes that, but using the event to propose the complete opposite of one of the core tenets of our democracy – what Thomas Jefferson called “a wall of separation between the church and state” adopted by the American people in the Constitution – certainly is not.
According to a Pew Research poll, one in four New York City residents are religiously non-affiliated, only one-third of the city’s population considers itself religious, and one in seven are atheist or agnostic. Freedom of religion is a pillar of American democracy that is just as important today as it was when the Constitution was ratified, but with far fewer Americans being religious or believing in God, the separation of church and state has become even more important today.
So, what exactly did Adams say? Well, it was a lot. It began with his Chief Advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin’s introduction of the mayor, in which she said, “in government, many times, it is said that one has to separate church from state. We have an administration that doesn’t believe in that,” adding that Adams is “is definitely one of the chosen.”
“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.”
Mayor Eric Adams at Interfaith Breakfast, Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Adams then said Lewis-Martin’s remarks were “so right” and continued, “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.” He went on to echo his advisor’s messianic-like statement that he has been chosen by God, telling the audience that, “God said, ‘I’m going to take the most broken person, and I’m going to elevate him to the place of being the mayor of the most powerful city on the globe.”
Besides just praising himself as having been divinely selected by God, he used that portion of his speech to put down another city, adding, “He could have made me the mayor of Topeka, Kansas. He could have made me the mayor of some small town or village somewhere.” Adams had insulted Kansas a few months earlier while being asked about wearing “mayor” branded clothing during trips to Caribbean islands, when he said, “New York has a brand, and when people see it, it means something… Kansas doesn’t have a brand… But New York has a brand. It has a brand and that brand means diversity. That brand means we care. That brand means that we are compassionate.”
As they were a few months ago, Kansas officials were not pleased with Adams’ insults. Kansas Governor Kelly called him out and, while praising New York city, Topeka Mayor Padilla pointed out how “unprofessional” its mayor’s words were. Padilla said, “One of the best lessons I’ve learned in my tenure as mayor, is the value of humility.” Elevating oneself by diminishing others is certainly not a lesson taught by any major organized religion.
Adams went further in opposing any separation of church and state, saying, “When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools.” Two days later, he added, “We need to find a way to introduce some form of spirituality in our children.” Religion in children’s lives is a family matter, not a government concern, and it certainly has no place in public schools. The fact that we are talking about this in New York City is incomprehensible.
There were also downright bizarre moments, as when Adams pulled out a sponge, urging everyone to embrace spirituality because “You will never be who you ought to be if you carry around a saturated sponge of despair, you got to ring it out.” And continuing his trend of claiming to be unfairly persecuted by the press, he urged attendees to get news of him from his own newsletter, rather than the media. When asked a few days later about his ‘prayer in school’ remarks, he claimed he never said what a room full of religious leaders and reporters watched him say.
Rabbi Abby Stein, who attended the event, summed up Adams remarks perfectly, calling them “unhinged and very dangerous.” She added, “There was a lot of people who were like ‘No, no, no, no, what is happening? What is he talking about?’”
