About FIRE
Our History: Fostering Interfaith Relationships on the Eastside (FIRE) grew out of the 2010 and 2011 interfaith 9/11 commemoration programs in Kirkland, Washington. After the September 2011 event, its organizers continued to meet monthly to talk about additional ways to promote interfaith understanding and cooperation on the Eastside, such as music, art, and social events (game nights, dances, etc.), a “What We Believe” lecture and discussion series, a place for faith communities to post information on public events, etc. We took the name “FIRE” and created this web site in July 2012. Our first interfaith dinner dialogue was in March 2013. The Home page (blog) shows all the events we’ve sponsored over the years since then.
Our Vision: We envision a world where people of all faiths and spiritual traditions live together in peace and harmony with a strong foundation of trust and respect.
Our Mission: We provide inclusive, supportive opportunities for people of all faiths and spiritual traditions to gather together, learn from each other, and foster positive, collaborative relationships through interfaith activities and dialogues.
Our Organization: FIRE is not a formally-organized entity and does not have governing documents such as bylaws. We are not a 501(c)(3) or other type of corporation, not a registered charity, and not a formal association or other type of business. We are also not formally affiliated with any particular faith community or communities. FIRE has no board of directors, officers, executive director, or other staff. We are a voluntary network of individuals from many faith traditions who believe in the FIRE Vision and Mission stated above. We make decisions by consensus. Anyone who shares these values is welcome to help advance the vision and mission by joining our email list and, when available, participating in our monthly steering committee meetings, which are usually held mid-day on the first Monday of the month by Zoom (we hope to get back to in-person meetings when the pandemic subsides). Kirkland Interfaith Network (KIN), a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity, acts as fiscal agent for FIRE and collects and holds funds for us such as in those occasional instances when we have catered food at events rather than potlucks; we are grateful for KIN’s help, but are not formally affiliated with KIN, either.
Our Steering Committee: The individuals who have participated in organizing FIRE events (who we sometimes refer to as our “steering committee”) are involved in many different faith traditions, including Baháʼí, Buddhism, Christianity (Protestant, Catholic, Latter-day Saints, etc.), Hinduism, Islam (Sunni, Shia, Ismaili, Ahmadiyya, Hizmet, Sufi, etc.), Judaism (Conservative, Orthodox, Reform, etc.), Sikhism, Society of Friends (Quakers), Unification, Unitarian-Universalism, Zoroastrianism, and others. The adherents of some of these faith traditions face persecution in some areas of the world, and identification of individuals by name could create risk for them or their families. We therefore choose to not publish the names of steering committee members on a web site that is accessible worldwide. Those of us who would likely not face persecution also choose to not list our names, in solidarity with those who might be persecuted. Please email us at info@fire-wa.org if you would like to contact any individual steering committee members and we will forward your message to them.
We hope you’ll join with us in promoting interfaith dialogue and peace! For more information about FIRE, or to be added to our steering committee email list or our list to receive event announcements, please contact info@fire-wa.org.