Intolerance a shame

According to the news report, here's what transpired: A prayer session takes place at the opening of every session of the State Senate and House of Representatives, and the Associated Ministries of Thurston County selects individual religious leaders to lead the prayers on a given day. A broad range of faiths are represented in the opening prayers.

On the morning of March 4, Mohamad Joban -- a religious leader from the Islamic Center in Olympia -- was at the state capital to offer the daily prayer on the floor of the Washington House of Representatives.

Joban is a United States citizen, and a citizen of Washington. His prayer asked for blessings on the state of Washington, and to guide members of the Legislature in making good decisions.

"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 tranquillity," Joban's prayer continued.

It sounds like the type of prayer a person of any religious faith -- maybe even atheists -- could embrace. But absurdly, because the man leading the prayer represented the Islamic religion, two state legislators made a point of walking out during the prayer.

State Rep. Lois McMahan (R.-Gig Harbor) and State Rep. Cary Condotta (R.-East Wenatchee) offered different reasons for their action:

"It's an issue of patriotism," McMahan said.

"Let's just say I wasn't particularly interested," Condotta said.

Either way, the walkout was offensive and embarrassing to our state. It displayed religious intolerance and narrowness. The walkout also showed a lack of common courtesy.

Message to McMahan and Condotta: The Islamic religion is not our enemy. Intolerance is. Arrogance is. Extremism is. Ignorance is.

All these two legislators achieved was to provide a graphic demonstration that religious intolerance and stereotyping is not limited to members of any single faith. And as elected state officials, their actions in this deplorable incident shamed all of us.

JB