Amen and Awoman

   

  

Of all the controversies that evangelical Christians have created and embroiled themselves in, the backlash regarding the closing of the Rev. Emmanuel Cleaver's prayer may have been the most petty. You would think, from the response of many people I am aquainted with that he brought a golden calf into an altar in the worship space of a Christian congregation, or wore a t-shirt promoting the Piss Christ (yes there are such t-shirts). Instead, the last word of his prayer was a pun, intended to celebrate the inclusion of the first woman chaplain to the House of Representatives, as well as the larger proportion of women in this term's Congressional delegation. The closing of the prayer fit with much of the rest of his prayer which called for spirit-led peacemaking and inclusion of  "the other". In the prayer Rep. Cleaver called for peace and an end to partisan tribalism. The final word of the prayer fit with this theme. Although it may have been a little dorky, it should not have made news. Furthermore, it should not have Christian around the country offended and ready to wage a Twitter/Facebook jihad. 

    Cleaver's prayer wasn't perfect. In my opinion, Rev. Cleaver's mistake was this: don't mistake a prayer for a sermon. For public prayers, it is almost always a temptation to take the opportunity to lecture folks, or to placate those in authority through the use of prayer. Don't do it. When you pray, pray. Even in congress. And when you preach, preach.

    Nevertheless, I am intrigued that many evangelicals are pretending that misusing the word "amen" is like taking the Lord's name in vain. The earliest manuscripts of the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 do not even use the word "amen". Many faithful Christians and secularists use the term "amen" in everyday conversation to communicate agreement, not as an expression of prayer. It is not required to "hang up" a prayer with the word "amen". It is just a tradition.

    So then, is there a controversy about the term "awoman"? My suspicions are as follows:

1. In light of Warnock's upcoming election, evangelicals wanted to disparage the African American church, especially those grounded in some sort of liberation tradition, as being untrue to the gospel. It was a way of both attempting to attack African American religious tradition as illegitamate, as the SBC has done with its repudiation of critical race theory, and of peeling away any support in the upcoming election from Warnock.

2. It communicated many conservative evangelicals lack of willingness to support racial and gender inclusion, unless it is completely subjugated to constructs of white power and male power. And, any movement of faith that affirms instead of deconcontructs the structures of abusive power, including mitigating against full inclusion of both women and minorities, is anti-gospel.