Opening Prayer

 Opening Prayer by Bill Wilson

The opening prayer of the 117th Congress was offered by Democratic Congressman Reverend Emmanuel Cleaver, II, St James Methodist Church, Kansas City, MO. Cleaver ended his prayer in the name of the monotheistic god Brahma and by saying Amen and Awoman. This is an example of how far Congress has fallen away from the precepts of the one true God and just how these elected officials in the Democratic Party revere and respect God. Moreover, a Methodist minister ought to know better and if he doesn’t he should be removed from the ministry. Call it ignorance. Call it disrespect. Call it heresy. Call it blasphemy. In the very least, it is indicative of the state of affairs of this nation.

Here is the text of the ending of Cleaver’s prayer: “Now may the God who created the world and everything in it, bless us and keep us; May the Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us; May the Lord lift up his light of countenance upon us and give us peace—peace in our families, peace across this land, and there I ask oh Lord, peace even in this chamber, now and evermore. We ask it in the name of the monotheistic God Brahma, and God known by many names by many different faiths. Amen and Awoman.” There is so much wrong with this. Cleaver attempts to give the Aaronic Blessing, the blessing God—not Brahma, or any other god--instructed to be given over the people of Israel.

God is characterized by many names in the Bible—but God is not known by the many names Cleaver was speaking of—Brahma being one of them. Any Christian minister should know the premise of the faith as told by Christ in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” And aside from being grammatically incorrect in his ending (a men and a woman), Cleaver, apparently trying to adhere to new House rules, destroyed the meaning of “Amen” by making it gender-related rather than the affirmative “So be it.” Cleaver disrespected God and His holiness. Cleaver also demonstrated beliefs counter to the Judeo-Christian faith.

Merriam Webster defines blasphemy and heresy as: “Blasphemy, in a religious sense, refers to great disrespect shown to God or to something holy, or to something said or done that shows this kind of disrespect; heresy refers a belief or opinion that does not agree with the official belief or opinion of a particular religion.” Cleaver most likely gave America a preview of 2021 with his prayer. Blasphemy and heresy can be expected to continue under the Democratic Party leadership. Allowing a prayer like that is a strong indication that Congress holds your religious values and freedom in disdain. And while we have grown to expect it from the Democratic Party, I didn’t hear any Republicans in the House chamber object to this blasphemy. We can’t just wink at this type of ideological and religious bigotry. Accountability is a must.