Christian Twitter was set ablaze this week after US Congressman Emanuel Cleaver concluded a prayer at the House of Representatives with the words ‘Amen and Awomen’. Such is the pressure at all levels of society to appear ‘woke’.
‘Amen’ is not a gendered word. It means ‘it is so’ or ‘so be it’. As other tongue-in-cheek commentators have observed, the logic used here dictates that other words with the letters ‘m’ ‘e’ ‘n’ in them should be adapted to achieve a proper ‘gender balance’. The word ‘menstruate’ should also be rendered ‘womenstruate’. ‘Mens rea’ becomes ‘womens rea’. It’s ridiculous.
It’s also sinister. Listening to the rest of the Congressman’s prayer shows just how far he went to appease various groups. Cleaver – an ordained Christian Minister – addressed his prayer to “the monotheistic God, Brahma, and (the) God known by many names, many different faiths”. A man who espouses Christianity – a faith which has for thousands of years proclaimed the one, true, triune God – fudged the articulation of his beliefs in case somebody of another religion got upset.
Cancel culture, the inquisitional hounding of those who espouse certain ideas, is leaving people cowed and compromised. More seriously, it’s eroding the very foundations of liberal, democratic society. The West has thrived because people are able to live and speak freely. Espouse what they think and live by what they espouse. A society that doesn’t allow this is, by definition, not free.
The ‘Amen and Awomen’ incident is comical. It could easily be satire on a publication like the Babylon Bee. But it’s also a sign of how far things have regressed. Our response in light of it must surely be boldness. We must refuse to be cowed and compromised. And we must call out cancel culture for what it is – fundamentally undemocratic.
salann 