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When New York City Mayor Eric Adams---a Democrat---expressed his view publicly about the leftist ideas of Thomas Jefferson's promise to keep the government out of the church's affairs, the Left pushed back.
As you likely know, the Left has inverted Jefferson's words to mean the opposite of what he actually said.
Most of the left-friendly press reported that the Left "questioned" his remarks. Actually, the Left was extremely upset with him because his comments collided with their practices.
And he had a great deal more to say about "separation."
Be informed, not misled.
Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday decried the separation of church and state, while also praising prayer in schools — raising eyebrows and the ire of civil libertarians, and others.
The New York Post says, "The mayor, who has previously made no secret of his personal religious values, made his pitch for a more spiritual Big Apple at an annual breakfast of faith-based leaders in Manhattan."
“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,’’ Adams said.
“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. That’s who I am.”
The mayor told the audience at the New York Public Library’s main branch that a lack of faith can be linked to everything from homelessness to domestic violence to guns in schools.
The pushback is strong---extreme in some cases.
He appeared on CNN's State of the Union show Sunday, where he doubled down on most of his statements about church and state but clarified that he does not believe "in an institutional union between church and state."
He said, "Faith is who I am, and anyone who takes those words [is] stating that I'm going to try to compel people to follow my religion. No. 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," the mayor added.
Is Mayor Adams a true biblical Christian among the religious Left who claim to be "devoted Christians" but deny the Truth of God's Word?
I don't know his heart or his beliefs concerning Jesus Christ. II Timothy 2:19 tells us the Lord knows who are His.
Apparently, he doesn't take marriage seriously, as he lives with his domestic partner Tracey Collins, and she is the de-facto First Lady of New York City.
But he raises a very important question.
What should the relationship be between church and state?
A few years ago CBN News published an article titled, "Why separation of Church and State Was Never Intended to Mean Government versus God."
I strongly suggest you read it.
The article quotes David Barton, Christian author Rev. Eddie Hyatt, author Jerry Newcombe, William Federer, and lawyer Jeremy Dys.
A summary of some of their comments:
Founders Feared a Forced and Cruel Christianity
Hyatt mentioned certain governments used deadly force against dissenters who wanted to worship in their own way, saying, "Those people were persecuted, burned at the stake, some had their tongues cut out. The Founders did not want that kind of Christianity."
Barton added, "And so that's the context they have for the separation of church and state. It was never the church taking over the state. It was always the state taking over the church."
Author Jerry Newcombe, who wrote about the Bible in "The Book That Made America," said, "They didn't want to have a national, established Church of America like you have the Church of England, forcing people to believe something that they didn't believe in. They did not want any one national denomination to lord it over all the others."
Where did this famous phrase come from?
Thomas Jefferson wrote to worried Connecticut pastors in a famous 1802 letter that's come to be known as the Danbury Baptist letter, assuring them the government wouldn't interfere with their faith.
"Because there's a wall of separation between church and state,'" Barton says, quoting Jefferson. He continued, "And so the way he used it was 'guys, the government's not going to stop religious activities'.'"
Hyatt says the "First Amendment erected a wall of separation that would protect them from any intrusion of the government. So, in Jefferson's mind, the wall of separation was a uni-directional wall put there to keep the government out of the church. Not to keep the influence of the church out of the government."
Then about 150 years later, more liberal or "progressive" justices and judges began to interpret that as meaning the government had to wall off any touch of faith in any public institution or the people in it.
A significant loss of freedom.
Hyatt says the Founders would be distressed by these rulings. He said they were, "Used as a weapon to try to marginalize Christianity, to ban Bible reading and prayers from public schools, remove crosses and Ten Commandment displays from public places."
Hyatt stated the Founders would be distressed by these rulings. He said they were, "Used as a weapon to try to marginalize Christianity, to ban Bible reading and prayers from public schools, remove crosses and Ten Commandment displays from public places."
Federer says, "It's ironic that judges will say 'we have to maintain separation of church and state.' They're quoting from Jefferson. And Jefferson in the Declaration said 'all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.' Here's Jefferson acknowledging that he believed in a Creator, and they're using his phrase out of context to prohibit a Creator."
The church and the Capitol have a long intimate relationship.
Barton pointed out, somewhat ironically, "The U.S. Supreme Court has more than 50 depictions of the Ten Commandments in its own building. And yet they're the ones who say 'you can't let kids see the Ten Commandments; they might obey them.'"
Newcombe says, "George Washington was sworn in on a Holy Bible. He said 'so help me God,' which was the common way of taking oaths. George Washington even leaned down and kissed the Holy Bible."
Takeaway
Newcombe also said this: "So if their idea was there should be no reference to God in our government, then the Founders absolutely were schizophrenic."
And he said, "When they spoke of making no law respecting an establishment of religions, "They absolutely did not mean the separation of God and government. They certainly did not intend to make America into some sort of secular wasteland."
Hyatt said, "They believed that a free people, had to be a virtuous people. And they believed that only Christianity provided the intellectual and moral system for a virtuous people, That's why John Adams said, 'our Constitution was made only for a moral and Christian people.' He used the word 'religious,' but when the Founders used 'religion,' they were talking about Christianity. So, he said 'our Constitution was made only for a moral and Christian people. It is wholly inadequate for the governance of any other.'"
And I would add this: Therein lies the great dilemma in our country today. You can't remove God from the equation. And if we do...we become just another second-rate country, wondering what went wrong.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Engaged. Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful.