Eric Adams says God gave him a message certain to make atheist activists implode
OPINION:
Perhaps one of the most paradoxical paradigms in the current political matrix is the indisputable fact that New York Mayor Eric Adams — a Democrat who fashions himself as patently progressive — is one of the most outspoken leaders sounding the alarm on the perils of America abandoning our individual and collective faith.
Just nine months ago, Mr. Adams made national headlines after he enraged atheist activists and stunned onlookers on both sides of the political aisle with a series of eyebrow-raising proclamations about the importance of God, faith and the separation of church and state.
“It’s unimaginable that we keep pretending that this is not a country of faith,” he said during an interfaith prayer event in March, going on to deliver one of the most flammable lines: “When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools.”
And Mr. Adams wasn’t done there, as he lamented the damage inflicted on youths and culture when obsessive claims of church-state separatism removed any semblance of morality.
“State is the body. Church is the heart,” Mr. Adams said. “You take the heart out of the body, the body dies.”
The weeping, gnashing of teeth and pearl-clutching were so fierce one might have expected the mayor would back away from his pro-faith rhetoric, and hide out for a bit while the secular mob’s consternation settled — and until people once again regarded him as a run-of-the-mill progressive politician uninterested in publicly touting the importance of the eternal.
But anyone assuming such a thing would be patently wrong. On Dec. 1, Mr. Adams made a fascinating decision: he joined Christian leaders in Brooklyn for a powerful gathering with the Promise Keepers, an organization focused on building up men’s faith.
I was involved in the event and was frankly shocked by Mr. Adams‘ willingness not only to share his experience with faith, but to also double down on his comments that certainly earned him ideological enemies within his own political ranks.
Mr. Adams, taking the stage next to Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, told the faithful audience how God gave him a message decades before his 2022 electoral win that he would one day become mayor — a revelation he thought was “impossible” at the time.
“You look at my record of what I was — I grew up in public school, struggled, dyslexic, 15 years old, my brother and I … were arrested, rejected,” Mr. Adams said. “You tell me: how do you go from dyslexic, arrested, rejected, and now you’re elected to be the mayor of the city of New York?”
Mr. Adams, reflecting on his past, said he knows God both “made” him and will “sustain” him. The claim of such a prophetic message, alone, was intriguing, but beyond those personal anecdotes, the politician said God recently once again called him to share his faith.
“A voice that I heard said, ‘Eric, talk about God,’” Mr. Adams recalled, proceeding to reflect upon the intense pushback he received for being so boisterously faithful. “And when I had the audacity to say, ‘No matter what we say, it’s time to pray,’ just about every national outlet criticized me.”
Yet an undeterred Mr. Adams said these critiques miss the reality before us: Faith is very much enmeshed and intertwined in our culture.
“You tell me: Why do we have ‘In God we trust’ on our dollar bill, why do we say, ‘So help me God’ after being elected, why [when you] were you sworn in as a citizen in this country, your last words are ‘So help me God?’” he pondered. “Why is every president placing his hand on a religious book, yet right now we’re afraid to talk about God?”
And with that mention of “fear,” Mr. Adams is truly on to something, as too many people today are afraid or apathetic when it comes to the eternal, pushing belief in God and biblical standards to the side. Sadly, culture continues to pay an increasingly oppressive toll for our decisions to abandon the Lord — something Mr. Adams lamented.
“There’s an African tribe that, when they greet each other, they don’t say, ‘How are you?’ They say, ‘How are the children?’” he said. “Based on that answer, it is a determination of not only where we are, but where we’re going.”
Mr. Adams then delivered his assessment of America’s youth — and it was sobering. From high levels of depression and suicidal ideation to drug use and social media obsession, he said the kids don’t seem to be faring very well.
Anyone paying attention knows Mr. Adams is correct, as young people are struggling with a myriad of issues, all while culture continues to sell the lie that kids and adults, alike, can find fulfillment and truth in themselves rather than their Creator.
Notably, the mayor made it clear he has no plans to step away from discussing faith, drawing audience cheers. I don’t know Mr. Adams‘ heart and I’m not here to postulate, but I do know there are few politicians today willing to admit the unadulterated truths about the dire consequences of our abandonment of faith.
Despite my areas of political disagreement with Mr. Adams, he deserves immense credit not only for shedding light on these issues but also for so pointedly discussing our need to return to God if we want to sustain — and even save — lives.
And he’s doing it in an incredibly secular city where showing up to events like this and making such proclamations might not be politically expedient. Let’s hope more leaders step up to the plate, look beyond the political and speak truth, because we desperately need it.
• Billy Hallowell is a digital TV host and interviewer for Faithwire and CBN News and the co-host of CBN’s “Quick Start Podcast.” Mr. Hallowell is the author of four books.
