While I was in the heart of Times Square, my walk through America kicked off a journey of 3000 miles to restore the faith, the merit and the American dream, I do not help but think about this iconic city. This is the city where Americans built skyscrapers, Wall Street traders chased fortunes and immigrants arrived with nothing, working day and night to realize their dreams. This is the city that once embodied the pure spirit of capitalism, a place where the American dream was not just a slogan.
Yet, in the rise of Zohran Mamdani as the Democratic nominee for Burgemeester-Nadat we have definitely won the Primary-we see this once busy capitalist city that passes to socialism. What is missing is faith.
While I walked through the streets of Manhattan, I felt a profound absence. I passed some of the world’s most beautiful churches and cathedrals: St. Patrick’s, with his Gothic towers reaching to heaven; Trinity Church, standing Sentinel on Wall Street since the days of the founders and the cathedral of St. John The Divine, with his rose window and garden. I also came across countless neighborhood parishes and synagogues – some full of believers, but many, unfortunately, were empty.
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These places of worship are not only buildings; They are beacons of hope, memories of a higher power that leads us through the chaos of life. Yet Faith feels like a forgotten relic in the public square of New York.
Prayer is not invoked in policy debates and Scripture no longer forms the basis for justice. In one church I even saw a rainbow flag that disguised the cross, because too many worship houses have surrendered their message to politics. Is it a miracle that so many now look at the government – in the form of Mamdani promises – for answers to the deepest questions of life?
The harsh truth, as a pastor struggling with these issues in Chicago, is that New York has exchanged his faith for the idols of materialism, activism and politics. The pursuit of wealth has become a goal in itself, no means to bless others as God meant. Activism grows anger and division and changes neighbors into enemies about every complaint. And politics has turned into a false religion and offers salvation by government programs instead of grace.
Look no further than the current mayor race for proof of this spiritual drift. The vision of Mamdani on rental properties, wealth taxes and extensive government intervention shows how we have been demolished from the birthplace of free enterprise to failed collectivist policy.
Mayoral candidate from New York Zohran Mamdani attends a press conference in the Bronx where he was endorsed by speaker Carl Heastie on September 17, 2025 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty images)
How did we come here, from fortunes built on individual freedom to dependence on the state? The answer is clear: without God like our anchor, we have linked to earthly ideologies to fill the divine emptiness.
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This is not just a story in New York. It is a national crisis. From the streets of Los Angeles to the halls of Washington, DC, Faith has been withdrawn from public life, replaced by culties of consumerism and ideology. Crime rises not only from poverty, but from leaving the moral compass of religion. Families break not only through economic tension, but also from a culture that mocked traditional values. As a nation we make division, dependence and a hollow striving for progress without a goal.
But there is hope. As I learned through Project Hood, my non -profit organization on the south side of Chicago, real change starts by rebuilding from the ground with faith as our foundation.
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That is why I walk: to accommodate that spark in America, starting here in New York. Do not return your churches as a tourist, but as living centers of community and conviction.
Return to the God who blessed this land of opportunities. Reject the false gods of socialism and identity policy. Believe in God, belief in yourself and this city can recover his inheritance as the heartbeat of America. The bright lights can shine with true meaning if we let Faith’s light lead us again.
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