“Amen and Awomen”
Amen, Emanuel Cleaver, Etymology, Language, Official Idiocy and Incompetence
The Sun reports that you can be an ordained Methodist minister and be elected to Congress and not understand the meaning of the word “Amen” concluding Christian prayers.
A democratic congressman has sparked fury after ending a prayer with “amen and awomen”.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, an ordained United Methodist minister from Missouri, also mentioned the Hindu god Brahma while praying at the opening of Congress.
He said: “We ask it in the name of the monotheistic God, Brahma, and ‘god’ known by many names by many different faiths.”
“Amen and awomen,” he said as he closed the prayer.
Amen comes from Old English, via ecclesiastical Latin, via Greek amēn, from Hebrew ‘āmēn ‘truth, certainty’, and is used adverbially as an expression of agreement. It adopted in the Septuagint as a solemn expression of belief or affirmation.
