While some 32 states' legislatures have tried to pass anti-Muslim and anti religious freedom laws in their states, Washington State became the first state in the nation, on Friday, April 19, 2013, to have its Republican-majority Senate pass a resolution that challenges those who attempt to pass anti religious freedom laws, by affirming our nation's and our state's values: We welcome all religions and believe that our laws are not threatened by religious beliefs or laws.
The resolution, co-sponsored mostly by Republican members of the Senate, was introduced in the Washington State Senate on the morning of April 19, 2013, at about 10am. There were supportive speeches by Senator Adam Kline (primary sponsor) and by two of the co-sponsors, Senator Mike Padden, and Senator Steve Conway. There was then a voice vote (All in favor will say 'aye', all opposed will say 'nay') and the resolution passed with no 'nay's. Lt. Governor Brad Owen then recognized the inter-religious attendees and the Senators delivered a standing ovation to those attendees.
CLICK HERE to WATCH a VIDEO of introduction and passage of resolution (start at 1:43 mark)
CLICK HERE to read more about the resolution and its sponsors
CLICK HERE to read the text of the resolution (pdf)
CLICK HERE to view photos from the session
Background: The so-called 'anti-sharia' laws that 32 other states have tried to pass would disable state court judges from enforcing contracts or other documents that include elements of Islamic jurisprudence. Some common examples include: state courts would not be able to honor a wife's right to 'meher' as written in Islamic marriage contracts or honor wills that include division of property/inheritance according to Islamic jurisprudence, etc. As such, these anti religious freedom laws, if passed and enforced, would have a substantial, negative effect on business and on people's lives. In 2011, the state of Tennessee considered passing a law that would make following Islamic jurisprudence including every day practices like prayers, reading the Qu'ran, etc., a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
In response to these widespread attacks on religious freedoms, over 350 WA state Muslims from over 30 legislative districts across the state, lobbied their state lawmakers during the annual WA Muslim Lobby Day in Olympia held on MLK, Jr. Day, January 21, 2013, to commit to supporting a Religious Freedom Resolution. In the months following the Jan. 21 event, many of the attendees and several inter-religious allies continued to follow up to confirm their Senators' support for the resolution. The hard work of these citizen lobbyists resulted in the introduction and passage of this historic and important resolution on Friday, April 19, 2013!
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS REQUESTED:
In response to this historic resolution, there will likely be hate messages sent to co-sponsoring senators by anti religious freedom extremists nationwide. Please take the following 3 actions to ensure that the majority of responses that co-sponsoring Senators receive are positive and encourage them to continue to work with our communities.
1. E-MAIL the co-sponsoring Senators to thank them for supporting Senate Resolution #8652, the "Religious Freedom Resolution" and to tell them how important this is to you. To send an e-mail, simply copy and paste the following e-mail addresses into the "to" field in your e-mail to send a message to all:
2. CALL the State Capitol hotline at 1-800-562-6000 between 8am-8pm M-F and 9am-1pm on Sat., and tell the operator that you would like to leave a message for your Senator (whether or not she/he supported this resolution) and Governor Jay Inslee, that you are pleased that our state Senate passed resolution # 8652, the "Religious Freedom Resolution".
3. INFORM your friends and family by forwarding this alert to at least five other people. Tell them you took action to ensure that our lawmakers receive strong, positive feedback when they support our communities and ask them to do the same to ensure that lawmakers continue to work with our communities.
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CAIR-Washington State, a chapter of America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group, works tirelessly to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, and empower American Muslims.
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