SAN JOSE — It took the greater part of a returning flight from Chicago for Maha Elgenaidi to gain the trust of her nervous neighbor, but about 30 minutes from touchdown the woman leaned over and shared a secret.

The older white lady had spotted Elgenaidi in the terminal, waiting to board. There was a bag in her arms and a hijab on her head and the woman called her daughter to let her know she was afraid.

“She said, ‘There’s one of them here, she’s coming on the plane and she’s got a bag, and nobody’s searching her bag,’” said Elgenaidi, recalling the incident at a Sunday presentation at the First Congregational Church of San Jose. “Then, when we boarded, she was even more shocked to find out I was sitting next to her. But by the time we had that conversation, she had told me that she had no idea that we had so much in common, that I could be so friendly.”

And that’s exactly what needs to happen more, said Elgenaidi, who founded the Islamic Networks Group in 1993 in order to counter discrimination against Muslims and foster relations throughout the community. The church and her group held the meeting on Sunday to open dialogue with congregation and community members on what Islamophobia can look like and what people of any faith can do to fight it.

It comes in the wake of the Trump administration targeting Muslims from certain regions through the travel ban executive order that has, so far, been stayed in courts. But Elgenaidi said there’s movement to go further — even creating a Muslim registry — and polls show only 40 percent think favorably of followers of Islam.

“Imagine if, God forbid, there was another terrorist attack in this country,” she said. “With the rising tide of Islamophobia and many negative views people have even in the Bay Area, you could see a majority of Americans supporting what this administration is trying to do. National security will trump everything, including civil rights.”

She said that’s why people need to reach out across religious divides that aren’t nearly as wide they may think. Gloria Bordeaux-Pacholec said she’s been doing that on a one-on-one basis, talking to women wearing hijabs wherever she sees them. And making friends in return.

“You don’t have to go out and march to do something on a grass-roots level,” said Bordeaux-Pacholec, who introduced Elgenaidi at Sunday’s event. “I make a point to say ‘hi’ to make a personal connection, to let them know I’m not one of those people who would shun them.”

Elgenaidi said that the rift between Trump supporters who get their news from Fox and those who voted Clinton who watch CNN or MSNBC also needs bridging.

“It’s getting very toxic,” she said. “Liberals can be elitist, and can think they are more intelligent and enlightened and everybody else is stupid. We need to stop that — that attitude is no better than when we saw the conservatives at Fox constantly attacking Obama.”

Anne Swanson of Campbell said she knows that all too well — her viewpoints may jibe with the Bay Area majority, but they differ from those of relatives in other parts of the country.

“I have a cousin, and she’s very supportive of Trump,” Swanson said. “She cares about people, she wants people to have good health care and Social Security and she cares about the elderly. … The difference between us isn’t about caring about people. But she listens to different media than I do.”