Social media was abuzz after New York City Mayor Eric Adams argued that removing prayer from our schools led to a rise in gun violence.
Adams’ pointed comments were made during the annual Interfaith Breakfast in Manhattan.
The mayor argued that prayers from any faith could combat so many problems in the city, including domestic violence and homelessness.
He also noted it could have an effect on our schools.
“When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools,” Adams said, earning applause from those in attendance.
“When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools.”
— NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D) speaking at the New York Public Library interfaith breakfast pic.twitter.com/2GkxKCB5bX
— The Recount (@therecount) February 28, 2023
RELATED: Biden To Muslim Voters: I Wish We Taught Islamic Faith In Our Schools
Eric Adams: Prayers Left Our Schools, Guns Showed Up
Mayor Eric Adams seemingly anticipated the backlash he’d receive from godless liberals citing the ‘separation of church and state.’
“Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state. State is the body. Church is the heart,” he insisted. “You take the heart out of the body, the body dies.”
“I can’t separate my belief because I’m an elected official. When I walk, I walk with God. When I talk, I talk with God. When I put policies in place, I put them in with a God-like approach to them,” said Adams. “That’s who I am.”
NYC Mayor Eric Adams: “When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools…Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state…you take the heart out of the body, the body dies.”
Strange to agree with Mayor Adams, but here we are. pic.twitter.com/FWbvwOX18K
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) February 28, 2023
He’s right.
The Supreme Court’s landmark 1971 ruling in Lemon v. Kurtzman established a legal test for gauging church-state separation under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
However, the separation of church and state is something that was never intended to remove religion from schools but is nonetheless cited in even the most mundane things atheists find offensive.
As former Senator Rick Santorum once wrote, “The idea of strict or absolute separation of church and state is not and never was the American model.”
The schools especially have abandoned God, abandoned prayer, abandoned morals, and abandoned rules, as Eric Adams outlines, in an attempt to placate children and parents. It’s been to their own detriment.
‘CHURCH IS THE HEART’: The New York City mayor says he puts policies in place “with a God-like approach.” https://t.co/R9AGzl7iLV pic.twitter.com/gpDYZRqiQ1
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 1, 2023
RELATED: Duck Dynasty’s Missy Robertson Says God Must Be Part of the Equation in Gun Debate
Critics Were Furious
Eric Adams’ remarks on prayer in schools made for some strange bedfellows.
“Strange to agree with Mayor Adams, but here we are,” tweeted Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
Critics, however, did abound on the socials, seething over the New York City Mayor’s comments.
Anti-gun activist Fred Guttenberg, who tragically lost his 14-year-old daughter Jaime Guttenberg in the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, called Adams’ prayer comments “dumb and dangerous.”
“Mayor, before you comment like this again, perhaps we should talk,” Guttenberg said.
.@ericadamsfornyc, this is a dumb & dangerous comment that shows ignorance as to why my daughter was murdered in the Parkland shooting along with others in Parkland and other shootings. Mayor, before you comment like this again, perhaps we should talk.https://t.co/WS8YOWfxyX
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) March 1, 2023
Americans United tweeted out their disgust for Adams’ alleged “ill-considered comments about separation of church and state” adding the mayor “doesn’t seem to understand the proper role religion plays in public education.”
NYC Mayor Eric Adams stirred things up yesterday with some ill-considered comments about separation of church and state. Adams doesn’t seem to understand the proper role religion plays in public education. We’d be happy to help him with that.https://t.co/ypFDZnulwa
— Americans United (@americansunited) March 1, 2023
One critic referred to Adams’ speech as an “insane rant” while another suggested the notion that prayer belongs in our schools is “dangerous.”
Eric Adams went on an insane rant essentially arguing against the separation of church and state today.
It was full of gems like: “When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools.”
— Read Jackson Rising by @CooperationJXN (@JoshuaPHilll) February 28, 2023
We need to call this out even when a Democrat does it because it is dangerous!.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams says lack of prayers lead to guns in schools and dismisses separation of church and state. https://t.co/Ub9n0SlSYe
— Covie (@covie_93) March 1, 2023
A spokesman for Adams slammed critics for taking his comments extremely out of context.
“While everyone in the room immediately understood what the mayor meant, it’s unfortunate that some have attempted to hijack the narrative in an effort to misrepresent the mayor’s comments,” his office told Fox News.
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