Howe’s Brooklyn: Laurels & Darts, 03.01
LAURELS, To The Expansive, Illuminating World of Digital Intercourse
Where else could our passionate Mayor, whose vivid and colorful expressions have been a trademark since his days as Borough President, open a veritable can of worms at a live interfaith breakfast with this vibrant line: “Don’t tell me about separation of church and state. State is the body, church is the heart. You take the heart out of the body, the body dies.”
Immediately and broadly online, the New York Civil Liberties Union responded with clarity and balance: “We are a nation and a city of many faiths and no faith,” said Executive Director Donna Lieberman. “In order for our government to truly represent us, it must not favor any belief over another, including non-belief.”
“It is odd,” Director Lieberman continued, “that Mayor Adams would need a refresher on the First Amendment. After all, he has sworn to uphold the Constitution more than once, first as a police officer, later as a state representative, and then last year upon becoming mayor. The very opening passage of the Bill of Rights makes clear that church and state must be separate.