“I can’t separate my belief because I’m an elected official.” So said New York Mayor Eric Adams at a recent interfaith breakfast.

That statement alone is enough to kick up a storm of controversy today. But he continued, saying: “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.”

Suffice to say, the New York Times was deeply concerned, as expressed in an article covering the event . The article countered that the Constitution is widely seen to demand the separation of church and state.

If Adams thinks churches should run the federal government, then he does run afoul of the Constitution. The First Amendment does forbid Congress from making any law regarding an establishment of religion. It does not, however, require a total exclusion of religion from the public square, as politicos seem to believe these days.

This position, so common among secularizing portions of the country, misunderstands the Constitution and proves pernicious when followed. The Constitution builds upon a foundation that saw religion as an important support for its principles. John Quincy Adams, for example, stated that “ the highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity. ”

These principles included human equality, supported by Christianity’s claim that all men are created in God’s image. They involved the assertion that the ultimate standard for justice resides in the character and will of God, who created human beings with rights and duties that we could perceive not just by scripture, but through the laws of nature. The Constitution’s structural mechanisms of federalism and separation of powers derive in part from the Christian insight that fallible human beings will oppress others if not checked. Even religious liberty, as guaranteed by the First Amendment’s free exercise clause, finds support in religion, especially Christianity’s teaching that God is the lord of the conscience.

Moreover, because the principles of religion were bonded to our political ideals, our forefathers consistently argued for the need to bolster these links through learning. Benjamin Rush declared: “The only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government is the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible.” Article III of the Northwest Ordinance described “religion, morality, and knowledge” as “being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind.”

In addition, the role of religion in America’s public life has long been an impetus to reform. The abolitionist cause leaned heavily upon scriptural arguments to condemn slavery. Black civil rights leaders were often clergy and melded the call for America to follow its principles with biblical allusions to human freedom as a godly doctrine. Religion has helped us become a truer, better adherent to our founding principles.

Finally, the importance of religion means our loss of it entails a parade of vices that hurt individual people and the common good. During Adams’s recent event, the mayor at one point bemoaned the removal of prayer from schools, arguing its omission created a void filled by vice and violence. In so stating, he merely articulated the beliefs many people in past generations took for granted.

Beyond the school violence Adams mentioned, we risk losing a vital element in forming the character of a free, self-governing people. President George Washington cautioned against thinking widespread morality could exist without widespread religious belief. He wrote so because he understood how much believing in God ordered most citizens' understanding of justice, truth, and the resulting principles of government. Religious belief gives us a framework to reject tyranny, knowing no man is God. It bolsters respect for others, and it mandates a code of ethics that we do not make but must follow. It cements religious liberty, which is increasingly threatened by an intolerant, secular Left. Losing public religion means putting all of these vital, constitutional principles in jeopardy.

Thus, we should welcome public officials like Adams who do not separate their faith from their service, and we should hope for more who think likewise. Such a perspective would make us more faithful to our Constitution, not less. And it would help so much that ails our national soul in these trying times.

Adam Carrington is an associate professor of politics at Hillsdale College.