Posted on 03/04/2003 2:34:57 AM PST by sarcasm
OLYMPIA -- He prayed for the politicians, the state's prosperity and peace for all ethnicities and religions.
But when a Muslim cleric offered the opening prayer before the state House of Representatives yesterday, at least two lawmakers stepped off the chamber floor.
"It's an issue of patriotism," Rep. Lois McMahan, a conservative Republican from Gig Harbor, said of her decision to stand in the back of the room.
"The Islamic religion is so . . . part and parcel with the attack on America. I just didn't want to be there, be a part of that," she said. "Even though the mainstream Islamic religion doesn't profess to hate America, nonetheless it spawns the groups that hate America."
Rep. Cary Condotta, a Republican from East Wenatchee, also left the floor. He said the timing was not a coincidence, but he declined to comment further on why he left, except to say he was talking to another lawmaker and "let's just say I wasn't particularly interested."
A prayer is given at the beginning of each Senate and House session, and attendance is hit or miss, particularly on Mondays.
The interfaith organization Associated Ministries of Thurston County schedules the daily chaplain, said Cynthia Zehnder, clerk of the 98-member chamber. They have selected clerics representing a broad range of faiths, she said.
Imam Mohamad Joban, of the Islamic Center of Olympia, presented yesterday's brief opening prayer.
In part, he said: "We open this session of House of Representatives in the name of Allah the one God Abraham, God of Moses, God of Jesus, and God of Mohammed, peace be upon them all. . . . We ask Allah or God to bless the state of Washington so it may continue to prosper and become a symbol of peace and tranquility for people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds. We pray that Allah may guide this House in making good decisions for the people of Washington.
"At this time, we also pray that America may succeed in the war against terrorism. We pray to God that the war may end with world peace and tranquility."
Joban said the walkout was not hurtful, but ignorant.
"They're unable to distinguish between Islam as religion and way of life, and bad Muslims," said Joban, who has also given the opening prayer to the Senate. "They are easily able to distinguish between Christianity and bad Christians.
"They need to understand that like (President) Bush said . . . Islam is a peaceful religion."
Kathy Erlandson, director of Associated Ministries of Thurston County, found the small walkout disappointing, but not surprising.
"It makes me embarrassed to know that some of our legislators can't even treat someone with that common respect," she said. "He's an American citizen and he's praying for their work, then how can it be an act of patriotism to walk away?"
McMahan said she does not oppose having a Muslim cleric deliver the prayer.
Her departure was not a protest, but a personal decision not to participate because "the religion is the focal point of the hate-America sentiment in the world."
"My god is not Mohammed," McMahan added.
Joban said that if he were invited to give the opening prayer, he would do it again.
"Even if half of them leave it's OK for me," Joban said. "As a Muslim we have to respect what people believe and . . . we have to forgive something because of ignorance.
"The Holy Quran says that (one should) always respond to bad action with good and those who used to be enemies become friends."
The enemy right now is a terrorist movement, not a religion.
That's what the idiots on FR don't seem to get, and never have.
Or perhaps it is you who is blind to the real danger; and to the source of the terrorists actions.
Religious bigotry. It's not just for "jihadists" any more.
The TV shows me pictures of members of the Nation of Islam marching in the streets of America in support of their religion. Not in support of this Country.
I think YOU'RE Wrong.
Sorry, really bad example you gave here.
If you take into consideration everything I wrote to you in this thread, you could not logically arrive at such a conclusion.
And yet you, in the name of political correctness, demand the resignation of two fine Republican legislators for exercising their freedom of conscience.
What is wrong with this picture?
Before the coverage of the capture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, I was convinced that most of the "jihadists" were religious extremists puttin forth a perverted form of their own religion.
Now, I'm convinced more than ever that their so-called "religious war" is a total sham, a fabrication.
KSM was NEVER religious, never attended religious sermons, etc. He was simply a Marxist revolutionary, and never let the trappings of religion get in his way.
The religion angle is just an opiate for the masses, the idiots who are willing to do the actual dying. They are dupes of the cynical puppetmasters whom they serve.
How clever of you to turn the tables.
Actually, I would never refuse a person the right of non participation in praying to the God of the bible care of his son, Jesus Christ.
Who happens to be the one and only true God.
By my count, there are 46 Republican state legislators in the state of Washington. My guess is that 44 of them WERE embarrassed by the actions of these block-heads who walked out.
Do NOT be surprised if they are not disciplined by their party leadership in some way. If so, it might indicate to you that yours is most definitely the minority view.
So, you are saying that the root of our little problem with radical Islamists is not Islam, but Marxists?
That is a pretty ridiculous assertion, but even if it was true, it would still be a struggle against an evil ideology with a religious worldview as its source.
Try harder.
The point to which I responded said one could stay on the floor during the prayer. "God knows their hearts," or something to that effect.
If that's really all there is to it -- God knows their hearts -- Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego might just as well have faked worshipping Nebuchadnezzar's idol and avoided that potentially awful furnace episode. To the casual observer, they would have looked like they were worshipping Nebuchadnezzar's idol. But, God would have known they were just faking it. He knows their hearts. After all, they should have respected and tolerated their host and his religion.
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