\u201cAmen\u201d means<\/a>\u00a0\u201cso be it,\u201d \u201cit is so,\u201d or \u201cverily.\u201d Jews and Christians have used the term to conclude prayers for thousands of years. The word appears 30 times in the Hebrew Bible and 52 times in the New Testament. There is no connection \u2014 absolutely none \u2014 between \u201camen\u201d and \u201cmen,\u201d the far later\u00a0English<\/em>\u00a0word for plural male individuals.<\/p>\n This truth is so basic that it honestly strains credulity that any educated Jew, Christian, or Muslim \u2014 much less a Methodist who served as a pastor\u00a0for 37 years<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 would feel the need to make the term of assent \u201camen\u201d\u00a0inclusive<\/em>\u00a0by adding \u201ca-woman.\u201d Yet Emanuel\u00a0Cleaver, who\u00a0served as the pastor at St. James United Methodist Church in Kansas City, Mo., from March 1972 to June 2009, did exactly that \u2014 and it seems he is proud of it.<\/p>\n Naturally, many conservatives rightly mocked Cleaver for this absurd virtue signaling.\u00a0Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.)<\/a> mentioned \u201ca-woman\u201d and added, \u201cAmen is Latin for \u2018so be it.\u2019 It\u2019s not a gendered word. Unfortunately, facts are irrelevant to progressives. Unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAmen is a Latin word that means \u2018truly\u2019 or \u2018so be it.\u2019 Awoman is a nonsense word that means nothing. Dems find a way to make everything stupid and nonsensical. Utter clowns, all of them,\u201d\u00a0Matt Walsh tweeted<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yet this \u201ca-woman\u201d fiasco should show Americans just how stupid and shallow much of Democrats\u2019 pandering in the name of \u201cinclusivity\u201d really is.<\/p>\n Democrats have championed Marxist critical race theory, which teaches that hidden racism permeates American society so that if America\u2019s institutions are colorblind, they must be racist in some hidden, mysterious way. That\u2019s what \u201cinstitutional racism\u201d really means.<\/p>\n Democrats have trained themselves to see racism even in situations where the law clearly states that individuals are to be judged on the content of their character, rather than on the color of their skin \u2014 and this extends to other kinds of prejudice, as well. Feminists must root out any trace of \u201cpatriarchy.\u201d Islamists must fight \u201cIslamophobia,\u201d which they redefine to mean any suggestion that radical Islamist terrorism has any connection to Islam.<\/p>\n This Marxist quest to root out hidden prejudice culminates in the transgender movement\u2019s quest to rid the word of \u201cwhite cis-hetero-patriarchy,\u201d the supposed dominance of white males who identify as male and who wish that heterosexual relationships were the norm.<\/p>\n These ideologies converge to create a massive conspiratorial mindset. Behind every government building is a racist, sexist, religionist, anti-you-name-it bigot pulling the strings. How disappointed these social justice warriors will be when they discover that civilization does not exist in order to oppress them. Yet conspiracy theories have an ugly tendency to persist and even grow in the face of the truth.<\/p>\n It seems this poisonous thinking has convinced a former pastor who should have known better that the very term \u201camen\u201d is an instrument of patriarchal oppression.<\/p>\n Ironically, Cleaver\u2019s speech \u2014 which he ended with a virtue-signaling attempt to appear inclusive \u2014 addressed a very Christian God. He described God as \u201ceternal,\u201d a being with \u201csacred supremacy,\u201d a deity \u201cwho created the world and everything in it,\u201d and one with a \u201cpriestly presence.\u201d<\/p>\n This concept of God may appear compatible with many faiths, but it is not. Neither Judaism nor Islam involves a God who is also a priest. Only in Christianity does one Person of the Trinity \u2014 Jesus Christ \u2014 make supplication to another Person of God \u2014 the Father \u2014 on behalf of humanity. While God may listen to the prayers of non-Christians, it is false to suggest that different religions all pray to the same God (Christianity and Islam provide an\u00a0important example of this<\/a>).<\/p>\n For all Cleaver\u2019s mentioning of Brahma, his suggestion that the Christian God is \u201cknown by many names by many faiths,\u201d and his asinine ending with \u201cAmen. \u2026 and A-woman,\u201d Cleaver delivered a very Christian prayer. He acknowledged humans\u2019 \u201cfallible nature\u201d in contrast to God\u2019s perfection, asking God to enable Congress to defend democracy and to overcome the divisions of tribalism and ideology.<\/p>\n Jews and Muslims who were listening closely in order to find something offensive will not be disappointed. Atheists will have a field day.<\/p>\n Cleaver was right to pray for unity amid tribalism and ideology, and he was right to acknowledge humanity\u2019s fallible nature. Yet his attempts to be more inclusive will not satisfy those who are paying attention. Rather, his shallow inclusivity makes him a laughingstock.<\/p>\n Perhaps Cleaver will realize his mistake and admit that \u201camen\u201d is not some deep symbol of the oppressive white cis-hetero-patriarchy. Perhaps many on the Left will even mock him for this absurdity. Yet it seems plausible that some SJWs will probably cheer the nonsensical neologism \u201ca-woman,\u201d and start using it to end their prayers.<\/p>\n Watch the \u201ca-woman\u201d incident below.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Screen-Shot-2021-01-03-at-11.24.59-PM-730x487-1.jpg\")
C-SPAN screenshot of Emanuel Cleaver.<\/p><\/div>\n
On Sunday, a Democratic representative \u2014 who also happens to have been a pastor for 37 years \u2014 gave an official prayer to open the 117th Congress. With great pomp and circumstance, he closed his prayer by invoking \u201cthe monotheistic god,\u201d Brahma, and the god who supposedly goes by many names. He then concluded with the most asinine thing I have ever heard. He ended with \u201camen \u2026 and a-woman.\u201d<\/p>\n