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.

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.

“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-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!” he said.

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.

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

Steeve Strange

Steeve is the CEO & Co-Founder of The Scoop.