Democrat Ends Prayer With “Amen And A-woman” During House Opening Session — Gets Backlash
Democratic congressman Emanuel Cleaver delivered the opening prayer at the start of the 117th Congress on Sunday. But what would have been a procedural opening of Congress drew ire as the Missouri lawmaker closed his invocation by altering the traditional ending of “amen” to “Amen and a-woman.”
Critics mocked Cleaver and the Democrats for trying to assign a gender to the word “amen” which they said, in the context of prayer, actually means “may it be so” without any gender reference.
“And dare I ask, oh Lord, peace even in this chamber now and evermore. We ask it in the name of the monotheistic god, Brahma, and god known by many names by many different faiths. Amen and a woman,” Cleaver, who is an ordained Methodist minister said.
I was honored to deliver the opening prayer for the 117th Congress. May God bless each and every Representative with the courage and wisdom to defend our democracy and the liberties we all hold so dearly. https://t.co/z3vkWOk7lc
— Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (@repcleaver) January 3, 2021
The Missouri lawmaker, who is also House guest chaplain, received backlash for altering the traditional ending of the prayer saying this is part of efforts by liberals to make everything “gender neutral.”
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro slammed Cleaver for the “idiotic” closing to his invocation.
“The prayer with which Congress opened is, I believe, the stupidest thing that I have heard in all my life,” the Ben Shapiro Show host said.
“‘Amen’ is a Biblical Hebrew word: אמן. It is a word simply meaning ‘may it be so.’ It has nothing to do with the word ‘man’ or ‘woman’ because it is FROM HEBREW,” Shapiro, who is an orthodox Jew, said.
"Amen" is a Biblical Hebrew word: אמן. It is a word simply meaning "may it be so." It has nothing to do with the word "man" or "woman" because it is FROM HEBREW. This is some of the dumbest s*** I have ever seen in my life. https://t.co/O4JhcHwywv
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 4, 2021
“This is some of the dumbest s*** I have ever seen in my life.”
“I mean, you would have to take the word ‘amen,’ take it down to the pit of despair from ‘The Princess Bride,’ put the torture machine on it and torture it until it tosses out some sort of gendered variant,” he added.
“Not only is that stupid on that level, it would also then be meaningless. Why would you end any prayer and just say ‘man?’ It’s idiotic.”
Republican lawmakers also lashed at Cleaver for attempting to assign gender to the word “amen.”
The prayer to open the 117th Congress ended with "amen and a-women."
Amen is Latin for "so be it."
It's not a gendered word.
Unfortunately, facts are irrelevant to progressives. Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/FvZ0lLMDDr
— Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (@GReschenthaler) January 3, 2021
“The prayer to open the 117th Congress ended with ‘amen and a-woman.’ Amen is Latin for ‘so be it.’ It’s not a gendered word. Unfortunately, facts are irrelevant to progressives. Unbelievable,” Rep. Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania said.
Former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich also slammed the move and said this proves how Democrats are moving to the far left.
Amen and awoman."perfect House Democrat prayer ending as House Dems focus on gender security by abolishing virtually every normal gender term like “father. Mother “-the radical madness has begun-Kevin McCarthy for Speaker!
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) January 4, 2021
“Amen and awoman. “Perfect House Democrat prayer ending as House Dems focus on gender security by abolishing virtually every normal gender term like ‘Father. Mother” — the radical madness has begun-Kevin McCarthy for Speaker!” he said.
Dems open congress with a prayer that ends “amen and awoman.” Amen is a Latin word that means “truly” or “so be it.” Awoman is a nonsense word that means nothing. Dems find a way to make everything stupid and nonsensical. Utter clowns, all of them.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) January 3, 2021
Congress swore in new lawmakers on Sunday and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was re-elected as Speaker. Just a day ago, Democrats pitched a major change in the rules of the House of Representatives by removing all ‘gender-specific’ terms such as “father,” “mother,” “daughter,” and “son,” among others from House bills.
“It turns out that people on the left don’t actually believe that men and women are real concepts,” Shapiro said. “They’re malleable men and women, so what they really should say just to be tolerant is ‘amen, a-woman, and a gender is a social construct that is unconnected to biological sex but also a biological imperative’ and then bow their heads,” he added.
“Well done. That’s a great way to start the year.”
Donald Trump Jr. also took to Twitter to express his disdain of the closing part of Cleaver’s prayer reiterating that “amen” isn’t a gendered word.
“Is this what you voted for?” Trump retorted.
The prayer to open the 117th congress ended with “amen and a-woman.”
Amen means “So Be It” in Latin.
It isn’t a gendered word but that didn’t stop them from being insane.
Is this what you voted for?
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 4, 2021
In related news:
Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz may now only be referred to as “Wasserperson-Schultz” https://t.co/abXyPpaWrC
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) January 4, 2021
Another one wrote: “A Methodist preacher praying in the name of the “monotheistic God….and brahma?? Forget the a-woman, words can’t even begin to explain.”
https://twitter.com/Chaseemmert7/status/1345920310244159493
