This week’s “Theocrat of the Week,” according to FFRF Action Fund, the advocacy arm of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, is New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who defiantly went to a pulpit last Sunday to resume his attacks on state/church separation and otherwise continues to use his office to promote his personal religious beliefs.
By contrast, FFRF Action Fund this week praises North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper for his leadership in continuing to champion legal abortion. In May, he vetoed the state Legislature’s 12-week ban, which was lamentably overridden. In an interview with Washington Post Live, Cooper continued to show gubernatorial leadership against the “massive Republican overreach” in overriding the veto, promising that North Carolinians who support abortion rights are energized and not giving up.
It is an entirely different story with Eric Adams. Earlier this year, FFRF took him to task when he insisted “the mayor of New York is a servant of God,” rather than of the people. He seemed to say that God had told him to run for office and anointed him, castigating the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. He even blamed gun violence in schools on secular education.
Instead of upholding the secular Constitution he has taken an oath to defend, Adams seems to be recently doubling down on his religiosity. At a Father’s Day service at the Lenox Road Baptist Church, he complained he was being persecuted for his remarks. “Because I don’t care what anyone says, it’s time to pray,” he declaimed.
“Gov. Cooper knows that his role is to protect ‘We the People’ and their rights — not to inflict his personal dogma on constituents,” says FFRF Action Fund President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Mayor Adams, on the other hand, is incapable of separating his personal religious beliefs from his civil office, insulting nonbelievers and secular principles all the while.”
FFRF Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues.
