Mayor Adams has caused a controversy with remarks during an interfaith breakfast in the city where he suggested there isn’t a separation of church and state.
“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 Adams told the audience. “I can't separate my belief because I'm an elected official. When I walk, I walk with God.”
The mayor said that the church, synagogue, mosque and Sikh temple were gyms.
“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,” Adams said.
The mayor's comments received immediate pushback from 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," the NYCLU said in a statement.
Photo Credit: Getty Images