Over the weekend, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community -- an organization with tens of millions in 189 countries worldwide -- held its 60th annual U.S. convention in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Last Wednesday, lawmakers in the state decided to sponsor a ceremonial resolution honoring the group. Resolutions like this are routine and most are approved quickly and unanimously. That's why it was so surprising to see this bill cause a controversy.

But cause controversy it did.

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, a Republican from near Pittsburgh, prevented the House from even considering the legislation, arguing:

The Muslims do not recognize Jesus Christ as God, and I will be voting negative.

That statement not only offended members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (the group's president called the remarks, "a form of extremism"), it disturbed many of his fellow lawmakers.

Democratic Rep. Babette Josephs of Philadelphia, a Jewish lawmaker, responded by asking:

I wonder what I would not also qualify for -- being on the floor myself? Having the right to vote? Having the right to practice my religion?

The Pennsylvania press is also taking Metcalfe to task, and this editorial from the Sunday Pittsburgh Post-Gazette hits all the right notes:

The Founding Fathers knew about the dangers of sectarianism from the bitter history of the Old World, which is why the Constitution forbade a religious test for office. In America, you can believe in any faith or none -- and Americans have come to expect that religious tests by their representatives won't be applied in any sphere.

Unfortunately, state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, a Republican from Cranberry, was oblivious to this truth last week. Not for the first time in his career, he rushed in where angels fear to tread [...]

Mr. Metcalfe may have meant his remark innocently, but if you make a career of saying ill-considered things, then as ye sow so shall ye reap -- this time a controversy needlessly incited and hurtful to all sorts of people.

The legislature has the opportunity to reconsider the resolution this week, but with the Harrisburg convention ended, it seems that the moment has passed.

I just can't get past what a shame that is.