NYC mayor sidesteps question on separation of church and state

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) on Sunday sidestepped around a question about whether he supports the separation of church and state in governing.

“Just to be clear, do you fundamentally believe in the separation of church and state from a governing standpoint?” CNN’s “State of the Union” anchor Dana Bash asked Adams.

“No, what I believe is that you cannot separate your faith. Government should not interfere with religion and religion should not interfere with government. But I believe my faith pushes me forward on how I govern and the things that I do,” Adams responded.

Bash then pressed Adams in asking: “Understandable, but one of the fundamentals of the constitution is a separation of church and state when it comes to governing. When I just asked you, you said ‘no.’ That’s going to alarm some people,” she said.

“No, this is what I’m saying. I want to be very clear… Government should not interfere with religion, religion should not interfere with government. That can’t happen. And it should never happen. But my faith is how I carry out the practices that I do and the policies,” Adams said.

Adams last week appeared to dismiss the idea of separation of church and state with comments that drew criticism.

“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,” Adams said at an interfaith breakfast.

The New York Civil Liberties Union’s excutive director Donna Lieberman called the remarks “outlandish” and “playing with fire.”

“The last words I said after I was sworn in is ‘so help me god.’ In our dollar bill we have ‘in god we trust.’ Every president touched a religious book when they were sworn in, except for three. Faith is who I am. And anyone who takes those words as stated that I’m going to try to compel people to follow my religion, no,” Adams said Sunday of his previous comments.

“I’m a child of god. I believe that wholly. I’m going to follow the law. I’m not going to compel people who believe in whatever faith it could be. If you’re in a synagogue, a baptist church, a buddhist temple, I’m in all of them. And that’s what was in my service,” Adams said.