Missouri Rep. Cleaver says his ‘A-woman’ prayer is misconstrued to stoke division
Missouri Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver said Monday that he was surprised by the backlash caused by his pun at the end of his opening prayer on the first day of the new Congress.
Cleaver, a Kansas City Methodist minister serving in his ninth term, delivered the opening prayer as the U.S. House began a new session Sunday. He ended his prayer with the words “Amen and ‘A-woman,’” a pun he said was intended to recognize the record number of women serving in the new Congress.
Cleaver’s words spurred a torrent of criticism from conservatives, who accused Cleaver of misunderstanding the meaning of “amen,” a Hebrew word that means “so be it.”
Donald Trump Jr., the president’s oldest son, attacked the Missouri congressman’s gesture toward gender inclusion.
“It isn’t a gendered word but that didn’t stop them from being insane. Is this what you voted for?” Trump Jr. said on Twitter.
The president’s son repeated his critique Monday evening during a rally in Georgia on behalf of Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue who are in the midst of closely-contested runoff races that will determine control of the U.S. Senate. Trump Jr. called Democrats “freaking morons” for the prayer.
Cleaver, the founder of the Kansas City chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and former pastor of St. James United Methodist Church, responded Monday with disappointment at the furor.
He said the pun was meant as a tribute to his female colleagues and to Rear Adm. Margaret Grun Kibben, the new House chaplain and first woman to hold the role.
“I concluded with a lighthearted pun in recognition of the record number of women who will be representing the American people in Congress during this term as well as in recognition of the first female Chaplain of the House of Representatives whose service commenced this week,” said Cleaver, who led the search committee that selected Grun Kibben, the former chief chaplain of the Navy, for the role.
“I personally find these historic occasions to be blessings from God for which I am grateful.”
There are 144 women serving in the House and Senate, which breaks the previous Congress’ record of 129.
Cleaver said he was “deeply disappointed that my prayer has been misinterpreted and misconstrued by some to fit a narrative that stokes resentment and greater division among portions of our population.”
He noted that his full prayer, which called for peace and an end to tribalism in Congress, had received little attention compared to the final word.
“Rather than reflecting on my faithful requests for community healing and reversion from our increasingly tribal tendencies, it appears that some have latched on to the final word of this conversation in an attempt to twist my message to God and demean me personally,” Cleaver said.
“In doing so, they have proven one point of my greater message — that we are all ‘soiled by selfishness, perverted by prejudice and inveigled by ideology.’”
This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 3:53 PM with the headline "Missouri Rep. Cleaver says his ‘A-woman’ prayer is misconstrued to stoke division."
