Mayor Adams Calls for Prayer to Return to Schools

At a religious breakfast Tuesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams suggested that banning public school prayer was a mistake, saying, “When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools.”

By Anash.org reporter

At a religious breakfast Tuesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams suggested that banning public school prayer was a mistake, saying, “When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools.”

The mayor, who has previously made no secret of his personal religious values, said that attending places of worship, regardless of faith, may help relieve some of the city’s issues, such as homelessness and domestic violence.

“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’s comments were greeted with loud applause from hundreds of religious leaders gathered at an annual event.

In 1951, New York State established a non-denominational prayer to be said daily in public schools. The prayer was “Almighty G-d, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us our parents, our teachers, and our country.” However, in 1962 the US Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional because of the First Amendment to the Constitution which makes a separation of church and state.

The Rebbe was supportive of this prayer and in light of the US Supreme Court, the Rebbe wanted a Constitutional Amendment to go around their ruling. However, a prayer amendment was not able to get enough support in the US. The Rebbe, therefore, suggested a Moment of Silence to avoid the Court’s ruling.

Since then, a “Moment of Silence” has been mandated for public schools in 16 states and encouraged (but not required) in another 25. Most recently, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law requiring a moment of silence at public schools.

Addressing the crowd of local Rabbonim, shluchim, community activists and members, the governor gave great distinction to the Moment of Silence bill. “The idea that you can just push G-d out of every institution and be successful, I’m sorry, our founding fathers did not believe that,” DeSantis said.