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Editors’ Pick

January 5, 2021

Amen, Ay-Woman, and the Contours of the American Civil Religion

How ecumenical should prayer in Congress be?

On Sunday, Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, an ordained minister, offered a moving prayer for the opening of the new session of the House of Representatives, invoking human fallibility, the need for divine guidance, and the importance of overcoming differences. But it was the prayer’s conclusion—“amen and ay-woman”—that brought it a great deal of attention, and no small amount of mockery. Cleaver’s fellow Methodist Mark Tooley looks at its more serious problems:

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