“May the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon us and give us peace,” Cleaver said during his two-minute invocation, “peace in our families, peace across this land, and dare I ask, o Lord, peace even in this chamber.”
We ask it in the name of the monotheistic God, Brahma, and ‘God’ known by many names by many different faiths. Amen and awoman.”
Benediction delivered by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.)
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, an ordained minister, lead the 117th Congress in an opening prayer and controversy ensued.
Politicians and preachers are the most disreputable professions, and a representative who’s also a preacher is like a serial killer who moonlights as a rapist.
I’m a devout believer in the separation of church and state, and it’s an abomination for any political gathering to be opened with a word of prayer.
Cleaver was trying to be politically-correct and inclusive to women, but “amen” is not a gendered word. The word translates from Hebrew to mean “so be it.”
I’m not a rocket scientist, theologian or Hebrew linguist, but I’m not an idiot and like most people I know the meaning of “amen.”
When a politician dons the robe of a preacher, he can forget about trying to be politically-correct. Christianity, and indeed any religion, is the antithesis of political-correctness.
Will all due respect the Rep. (or show I say Rev.) Emanuel Cleaver is a fricking idiot, and he should have declined the invitation to open with a prayer.