Neighborhood association meetings typically cover such topics as zoning and development issues, how to secure local grants and organize neighborhood cleanups, which is why a recent meeting of the Fircrest Neighborhood Association stuck out.
In the neighborhood’s January newsletter, February’s meeting topic was listed as “What is Islam?” March’s topic, for comparison, is “How to use www.nextdoor.com.”
The idea for the meeting topic came from Margaret Milem, co-chair of the association. She got the idea after attending the “A Conversation with Your Muslim Neighbors” event last year at Washington State University Vancouver.
“This religion has a lot of misunderstandings about it at the moment,” Milem said after the Feb. 7 meeting. “It made sense to invite a speaker. We arranged it back in August or September. Now we’re in February, and it’s an even bigger deal.”
Not all members of the neighborhood were happy with the meeting topic, though, and some expressed their displeasure through Nextdoor or in emails to leaders of the association.
“I just don’t feel that politics, religion, sexual orientation, ideologies, philosophies have a place in an association meeting no more than you would go to church and expect the speaker to talk about sewers and other topics not relevant to the meeting,” said one neighborhood resident who asked not to be named. “That was my whole objection. Once you open that can of worms, you’ve opened it for anything that comes down the pike.”
That person didn’t attend the Feb. 7 meeting. The neighbor attended the monthly association meetings regularly since moving to Fircrest a few years back, but will not attend any future meetings due to the association’s decision to go through with the “What is Islam?” meeting.
“I don’t think personal beliefs belong in the association meetings,” the neighbor said. “I have a really difficult time buying into that, and especially on topics that can be so divisive. I talked to a lot of people who were so aghast they were going to talk on religion, regardless of the religion.”
The neighbor said about six or eight people reached out to express similar feelings on the topic.
Plenty of residents supported the decision, though. After some residents expressed concern about the meeting, the association’s steering committee split the meeting up. The first portion focused on typical neighborhood association topics: figuring out to which local agency it should donate some extra money, updates on the 18th Street expansion, discussing a new traffic signal coming to the neighborhood. There was a 15-minute break after that meeting, and then the “What is Islam?” presentation by Khalid Khan of the Islamic Society of Southwest Washington, whom Milem first met at that event last year at WSUV.
Ten residents showed up to the first portion of the meeting, and 14 were in attendance for Khan’s talk. Milem said association meetings usually get around eight people. Those in attendance were interested to learn more about Islam, and jotted down questions to ask Khan after his presentation on the basics of the religion, the Quran and similarities between Islam and other religions.
Khan told the audience that the Quran goes into more detail about Jesus’ life than the Bible, and that it’s treated more like “the latest edition of a book” as it mentions other holy books.
Residents asked Khan about not eating pork, which he said is the same as Jewish people, or drinking alcohol, which he said is referred to as “the mother of all evils.” Khan also answered questions about some widespread misconceptions about Islam, such as getting 72 virgins in heaven.
“We’re always looking to learn more, to educate ourselves,” said Becky Archibald, a longtime Fircrest resident. “Our world is changing and we may not get to meet our neighbors. It’s good to be able to know what the facts are.”
Lou Marteeny, another Fircrest resident, said he found the presentation educational.
“We shouldn’t be afraid of information,” he said.
The neighbor who opposed the meeting topic said that if neighbors wanted to hold the “What is Islam?” meeting or a similar one about any religion, they should’ve done it separately from the association.
“As our meetings have gone in the past, we try to get out of the school in a reasonable time around 8 or 8:30, and quite often the speaker goes beyond that,” the neighbor said. “We just barely glaze over the rest of the agenda and don’t spend a lot of time on other items more pertinent to the neighborhood association.”
Still, Milem felt the meeting was a success and said the association was trying something different as a way to get residents to understand each other more.
“It’s about building community,” Milem said. “The more we know we share in values, the better we’re going to get along.”
