Democratic Missouri Representative Emanuel Cleaver shocked everyone when he delivered the opening prayer for the 117th Congress on Sunday by changing the ending. Instead of the traditional ending of “amen” Cleaver said “amen and awoman.”
Video of the altered prayer was posted online and he received harsh criticism from other lawmakers who said he was wrong for assigning a gender to the word “amen.”
Representative Guy Reschenthaler took to Twitter to clarify that the word amen is actually “Latin fro ‘so be it.'”
“It’s not a gendered word,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, facts are irrelevant to progressives. Unbelievable.”
Former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich slammed the alteration as clear evidence of Democrats moving further to the left: “the radical madness has begun.”
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
Cleaver’s office did not respond to reporters’ questions.
Astonishingly, Cleaver is an ordained United Methodist pastor and was asked to lead the opening prayer to start the new session on Sunday. Congress swore in new lawmakers and Nancy Pelosi was re-elected as House speaker.
Recently, Pelosi introduced new House rules she said will help in guiding the body to become more inclusive. A 45-page package rejects all mention of gender-specific pronouns and terms such as “man,” “woman,” “mother” and “son.”
