Amen and a-woman

[Athyrio]

It also could have just been a joke that didn't land.

Like manhole covers.

 

[bruto]

Meaningless virtue signalling and empty symbolism. There's a lot of it about lately.

I would suggest that any prayer is virtue signalling and empty symbolism. It's meaningless only insofar as it disagrees with the virtue signaling and symbolism you favor.

 

[Stacyhs]

True story:
Years ago, my husband's entire extended family all went to Hawaii at his late brother's wishes who left money in his will to do so. He died of AIDS. His eldest brother is Mormon as are his 4 children. My husband, his late brother, and his younger brother all officially left the Mormon church. As the large family (16), sat at the long restaurant table, my eldest BIL just assumed he'd take charge and do the Mormon prayer. Politely, the rest of us sat and waited in silence even though praying before eating is not what we do. At the end of the prayer, my 8 year old daughter, who was sitting with the rest of the children at the far end suddenly says, "Well, THAT was a waste of time." Color me mortified. And, yes, we had a little talk later that night.

 

[timhau]

True story:
Years ago, my husband's entire extended family all went to Hawaii at his late brother's wishes who left money in his will to do so. He died of AIDS. His eldest brother is Mormon as are his 4 children. My husband, his late brother, and his younger brother all officially left the Mormon church. As the large family (16), sat at the long restaurant table, my eldest BIL just assumed he'd take charge and do the Mormon prayer. Politely, the rest of us sat and waited in silence even though praying before eating is not what we do. At the end of the prayer, my 8 year old daughter, who was sitting with the rest of the children at the far end suddenly says, "Well, THAT was a waste of time." Color me mortified. And, yes, we had a little talk later that night.

With the daughter or the time-wasting brother-in-law?

 

[Stacyhs]

With the daughter or the time-wasting brother-in-law?

Daughter. She is still one speak her mind but not quite so inappropriately.

Although I really don't know why he thought it was his right to impose his religious rite on the rest of the family when he knew no one else ever prayed before meals. If you've ever heard Mormon prayers, they're not a quick "Thanks for the grub, Lord", either.

 

[GlennB]

Daughter. She is still one speak her mind but not quite so inappropriately.

Although I really don't know why he thought it was his right to impose his religious rite on the rest of the family when he knew no one else ever prayed before meals. If you've ever heard Mormon prayers, they're not a quick "Thanks for the grub, Lord", either.

I did a stint of I.T. contract work at the UK Mormon headquarters near Birmingham. Project meetings began with a prayer, though it was hard to blame them given the hopeless nature of the project.

 

[gnome]

How about "heresy", what's the male equivalent? "Hisesy"? TragicMonkey's views on the archons is hisesy in the eyes of the Valentinian Gnostics. Yes, that works.

He was having a hisesy fit.

Oh, wait...

 

[gnome]

I would suggest that any prayer is virtue signalling and empty symbolism. It's meaningless only insofar as it disagrees with the virtue signaling and symbolism you favor.

A certain portion of the bible agrees with you about public prayer.

 

[JoeMorgue]

A certain portion of the bible agrees with you about public prayer.

It's the Bible. It agrees and disagrees with everything, even the parts about what it agrees and disagrees with.

 

[Brainster]

Should be amen and a-woman and a-non-binary person. Insensitive clod!

 

[Horatius]

... Mr. Cleaver (who, incidentally, holds a Masters in Theology) didn't get the memo. He gave the Conservative Christian wing an excellent talking point against the "radicalism of the progressive movement."

EDIT: He's also a Methodist pastor, so he has every appearance of being a sincere Christian. Which makes this "a-woman" thing especially weird as he should know that there is no gender implication in the word "Amen"

Or, alternatively, as a person who has clearly spent a lot of time dealing with his fellow Christians, he's realized that a significant proportion of them are ignorant enough that they don't, in fact, know that "amen" is a loan word from a different language, and think it is somehow related to adult males.

Language is funny that way.

There was one time, at my Kendo dojo, where I was explaining the point system to a visitor. I told him, "There's a target on the men where you can thrust for a point."

After a short pause, he asked, "Do they have anything like that on the women?" I actually had to stop for a moment to realize that the Japanese word "men", meaning "helmet", that I had used just so happened to be the same sound as the English word "men", as in "men and women".

Assuming everyone is speaking the same language can cause all sorts of fun!

 

[xjx388]

A certain portion of the bible agrees with you about public prayer.

Indeed.

Matthew 6:5-6

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites
are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and
in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.
Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy
closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray
to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father
which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

The Opening Prayer is nothing but a show, which is completely against the clear word of Jesus I quoted above. There is no part of the Bible which contradicts this. As in giving to charity, the left hand shouldn't even know what the right hand is doing. Modern Christians have completely bastardized everything in the Bible, picking and choosing what they think applies.

Pastor Cleaver not only made the progressive movement look dumb with this ridiculous phrase, he made a mockery of the very Book he professes to believe in. He made it clear that his prayer wasn't a sincere, heartfelt conversation with God; it was a political statement that served to bring attention to himself.

He made this statement to Snopes:

I am 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. I believe prayers to be a personal conversation between El Shaddai and the invocator. With this conversation, in the presence of the 117th House of Representatives, I concluded with a light-hearted 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. I personally find these historic occasions to be blessings from God for which I am grateful.

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. 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 …”

The highligted seems a little contradictory to me and the bolded is a bit rich.

 

[Apathia]

What gets removed in a hersterotomy?

 

[bruto]

What gets removed in a hersterotomy? hersterectomy?

The part that a conservative thinks is his?

 

[Silly Green Monkey]

Bet he's kicking himself for not saying a-men, a-woman, and a-merica.

 

[Roger Ramjets]

The Opening Prayer is nothing but a show, which is completely against the clear word of Jesus I quoted above.

Haven't you heard? Jesus is a fictional character, and 'his' words were put in his mouth by the people writing fictional stories about him. Real Christians know this and it doesn't bother them - it's the message that matters, not the words.

Modern Christians have completely bastardized everything in the Bible, picking and choosing what they think applies.

If such picking and choosing was good enough for the Council of Nicea...

Pastor Cleaver not only made the progressive movement look dumb with this ridiculous phrase, he made a mockery of the very Book he professes to believe in. He made it clear that his prayer wasn't a sincere, heartfelt conversation with God; it was a political statement that served to bring attention to himself.

Nope, he just injected a little lighthearted humanity into the message. And Jesus (if he existed) would approve, I'm sure. Especially since he himself was not above a bit of wordplay.

 

[xjx388]

I can’t even disagree with you. /thread

 

[Mumbles]

Maybe, in the grand scheme of things, this isn't that big a deal but I do think it's worthy of discussion. Rep.Emmanuel Cleaver D-MO closed the Congress' opening prayer with "Amen and a-woman."

Now, I am all for inclusivity and recognizing gender inequalities and all that; but, "Amen" has nothing to do with gender or inclusivity. I think it's a bit ridiculous and over-the-top to use a completely made up "term" like "a-woman" as if that is somehow, in any way, leveling the playing field for women or even just recognizing the equality of women. I think it's a moment that conservatives can use to make progressiveism in general (I linked to Fox News because they are all over that angle) look radical and stupid. It's not helping anything at all and only adding fuel to further division.

Well, no, it's actually an old pun that's been openly said at this sort of event for decades, and I sincerely doubt that he cares about online bigots that piss and moan about "the virtue signalling cuck soyboy SJWs" or whatever the **** string of insults people are howling on their Youtube videos sponsored by some VPN or lootbox-infested game.

 

[Elagabalus]

Well, no, it's actually an old pun that's been openly said at this sort of event for decades, and I sincerely doubt that he cares about online bigots that piss and moan about "the virtue signalling cuck soyboy SJWs" or whatever the **** string of insults people are howling on their Youtube videos sponsored by some VPN or lootbox-infested game.

Indeed.

Cleaver: 'Awoman' ending to prayer meant to recognize record number of women in Congress (thehill)

Y'all seemed triggered, Yo'.


You want a view from the cesspit?

https://www.oann.com/democrat-congressman-ends-opening-prayer-with-amen-and-awoman/

You can't handle the cesspit!

 

[xjx388]

Well, no, it's actually an old pun that's been openly said at this sort of event for decades, and I sincerely doubt that he cares about online bigots that piss and moan about "the virtue signalling cuck soyboy SJWs" or whatever the **** string of insults people are howling on their Youtube videos sponsored by some VPN or lootbox-infested game.

Do you have any examples of this decades worth of use? I’m generally curious.