Fountain Hills said no to division and fear-mongering

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OPINION — On Oct. 20, the Fountain Hills Town Council considered Councilmember Allen Skillicorn’s request that town staff draft an ordinance targeting Sharia law.

Fountain Hills responded.

More than 100 letters opposing the proposal were submitted (an extraordinary response for any issue in our community). Council chambers were filled with Muslim neighbors and their allies from Fountain Hills and Scottsdale. Muslim and Christian speakers alike stood before the council to say, in their own ways: This is not who we want to be.

CAIR attorney Martin Quezada reminded the council that similar efforts around the country have repeatedly been found unconstitutional. In the end, common sense prevailed. A majority of Councilmembers, along with Mayor Gerry Friedel, declined to send Skillicorn’s proposal to staff for drafting.

That matters. This was never about some imminent threat from “Sharia law.” It was about whether our town would lend its name and resources to a political stunt singling out the religious tradition of some of our neighbors as uniquely suspicious and threatening.

Fountain Hills said no.

The real victory, though, was what happened in our community. People wrote. People called. People showed up. Muslims and Christians together. Neighbors spoke up for neighbors. Our community spoke, our elected officials listened, and a bad idea went no further.

As CAIR-Arizona Executive Director Azza Abuseif said afterward, “We don't get a lot of victories, but this is a good one.”

I confess, there is something deeply satisfying about watching fear-mongering fail. Those who traffic in division too often bank on ignorance and conspiracy theories making good political theater. This time, it didn't work.

Thank you to everyone who wrote, called, showed up, and stood with our Muslim neighbors, refusing to let manufactured fear and suspicion turn neighbor against neighbor.

That’s what genuine community (and true American values) look like.

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