Congressman Emanuel Cleaver defends ‘amen and awoman’ prayer ending as ‘lighthearted pun’

A record 144 women now serving in House and US Senate

Democrat representative Emanuel Cleaver has defended the prayer he gave on the first day of the new Congress that ended “amen and awoman.”

Mr Cleaver sparked a conservative backlash when he delivered the gender neutral prayer to open Congress on Sunday.

The lawmaker from Missouri, who is also an ordained United Methodist priest, says he tweaked the traditional prayer ending to recognise the record number of women serving in the 117th Congress.

Republicans hit out at the prayer and pointed out that “amen” does not refer to gender but means “so be it” in Hebrew.

"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," said Mr Cleaver in a statement.

“I personally find these historic occasions to be blessings from God for which I am grateful.”

There are now 144 women serving in the House and Senate, which breaks the previous Congress’ record of 129.

Mr Cleaver, the founder of the Kansas City chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, is serving his ninth term in Congress.

"And dare I ask, oh Lord, peace even in this chamber now and evermore," he said while concluding his prayer. 

"We ask it in the name of the monotheistic god, Brahma, and God known by many names by many different faiths. Amen and awoman,” he said in his prayer.

Donald Trump Jr,  the president’s oldest son, was among those who attacked Mr Cleaver’s prayer.

“It isn’t a gendered word but that didn’t stop them from being insane. Is this what you voted for?” said Mr Trump.

According to Christianity.com, “amen is a word that came to English from Latin, which got it from Greek, which got it from Aramaic, which got it from Hebrew."

Pennsylvanian Republican representative Guy Reschenthaler took to Twitter to object to the prayer.

“Unfortunately, facts are irrelevant to progressives. Unbelievable,” he wrote.