Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday urged New Yorkers to make New York City a “place of God,” saying after his predecessor’s strict COVID-19 restrictions on religious gatherings, the city’s biggest challenge is a lack of trust in the population .
“How do we take a city that’s the center of America’s power and turn it into a city where everyone sees faith and God when you walk in?” Adams asked during a faith-based mental health summit that at Columbia University’s Teachers College. “Our challenge is not the economy. Our challenge is not finance. Our challenge is faith. People have lost their faith.”
Adam’s comments came two weeks after the mayor indicated at an interfaith breakfast that he didn’t believe in the separation of church and state.
“Don’t tell me there is no separation of church and state. The state is the body, the church is the heart,” said Adams, a Democrat. “They take the heart out of the body, the body dies. I can’t separate my faith because I’m an elected official.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams attends a joint news conference with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on subway safety at the Fulton Transit Center. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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Days later, Adams clarified his remarks, saying, “Government should not interfere with religion, and religion should not interfere with government.”
Then on Wednesday, Adams called on clergymen to be part of a “major recruitment campaign” to get young people to become police officers.
“We should be part of the rallying cry that good, godly young men and women are playing this great public safety role in our city,” Adams said during an appearance at a summit on gun violence hosted by national faith leaders.
Adams’ recent comments on the faith stand in stark contrast to his predecessor, former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has been widely criticized for imposing severe restrictions on religious institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
De Blasio, a Democrat, previously threatened to close places of worship that violated the city’s house bans in March 2020. Over the next month, he stirred up outrage by helping to break up a rabbi’s funeral in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on behalf of public health.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks during the US-Africa Leaders Summit at the State Department in Washington, Monday, December 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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“My message to the Jewish community and all communities is so simple: The time of warning is over,” de Blasio tweeted. “I have directed the NYPD to immediately subpoena or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Point.”
De Blasio later vowed to keep up the pressure on “underground schools” after disbanding an Orthodox Jewish school that was running in secret. This incident happened weeks earlier City officials welded up playgrounds in neighborhoods populated mostly by orthodox Jews.
In December 2020, the then-mayor threatened to close an Orthodox synagogue in Brooklyn “once and for all” if it continued to ignore his COVID restrictions.
De Blasio defended lockdown rules imposed by then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, which limited church attendance to no more than 10 people in areas classified as “red” zones and no more than 25 people in “orange” zones.
In this August 19, 2020 file photo, then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks to reporters after visiting New Bridges Elementary School in the Brooklyn borough of New York to observe pandemic-related safety procedures. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
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The restrictions sparked a lawsuit that eventually made it to the Supreme Court, which prevented officials from enforcing the order.
“It is time – high time – to make it clear that while the pandemic is bringing many major challenges, there is no world where the Constitution tolerates color-coded executive orders reopening liquor stores and bike shops but closing churches, synagogues and mosques.” . ‘ Judge Neil Gorsuch wrote in his opinion on the case.
De Blasio was particularly criticized for enforcing restrictions on religious gatherings while allowing and even taking part in large-scale protests following the death of George Floyd.
Post-COVID lockdowns, more Americans of all ages, political views, and educational levels stated that he had never attended church services than before the pandemic, according to a recent survey conducted by the Survey Center on American Life at the American Enterprise Institute in partnership with NORC at the University of Chicago.
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The data found that liberals and young Americans saw the largest declines in church attendance.
“American church attendance has collapsed during the pandemic,” said Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, tweeted this week in response to the results. “When churches sent out the message that churches are not essential, people listened.”
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