New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) defended his recent remarks where he asserted that gun violence in public schools started "when we took prayers out of schools."

Many progressives slammed his comments, angered at the prospect of impeding upon the separation of church and state, but Adams countered Sunday that he believes "government should not interfere with religion and religion should not interfere with government."

ERIC ADAMS BEMOANS, 'WHEN WE TOOK PRAYERS OUT OF SCHOOLS, GUNS CAME INTO SCHOOLS'

"Faith is who I am," Adams told CNN's State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. "Anyone who takes those words as stating that I'm going to try to compel people to follow my religion —no, I'm a child of God. I believe that only. I'm going to follow the law. I'm not going to compel people."

When asked about whether he believed in a separation of church and state, Adams replied, "No, what I believe is that you cannot separate your faith," before underscoring that religion and government should not "interfere" with one another.

"I believe my faith pushes me forward on how I govern and the things that I do," he added. "My faith is how I carry out the practices that I do, policies such as [with] people who are homeless, such as making sure that we show compassion."

Adams also emphasized that public service is rife with nods to religion.

"The last words I said after I was sworn in is 'so help me God.' On our dollar bill, we have 'In God we trust.' Every president touched a religious book when they were sworn in except for three," Adams said.

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Adams, a Christian, made his remarks about prayers in school during an annual Interfaith Breakfast in Manhattan last week.

"When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools. 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, per Politico.