March 17, 2003

When Muslim prays, lawmakers walk
___OLYMPIA, Wash. (RNS)--A leading Muslim group said two Washington state lawmakers who left during a prayer by a Muslim cleric threaten to damage the country's image with Muslims around the world.
___Republican State Reps. Lois McMahan and Cary Condotta left the floor of the Washington House March 3 when an Olympia imam delivered the day's opening prayer. McMahan said it was a matter of patriotism.
___"Even though the mainstream Islamic religion doesn't profess to hate America, nonetheless it spawns groups that hate America," McMahan told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, adding, "My God is not Mohammed."
___Condotta said he left the chamber to talk to another legislator and called the timing accidental. "Let's just say I wasn't particularly interested," he told the Seattle paper.
___Imam Mohammad Joban of the Islamic Center of Olympia asked "Allah, or God, to bless the state of Washington so it may continue to prosper and become a symbol of peace and tranquility for all people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds" and prayed that "America may succeed in the war against terrorism."
___Joban said he was not offended by the walk-out. "As a Muslim we have to respect what people believe and ... we have to forgive something because of ignorance."
___Nihad Awad, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, called on Republican leaders to condemn McMahan's and Condotta's actions.
___ "Such divisive actions by elected leaders can only serve to increase discrimination against ordinary American Muslims and harm our nation's image and interests worldwide," Awad said in a statement.

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