Freedom of religion is for all of us

I am writing to you as the ninth anniversary of my sister Cathy's murder at the World Trade Center approaches.

She happened to be attending a breakfast meeting at Windows on the World (the restaurant on the top floor of Tower 1) that day and as bad luck would have it, she became trapped above the point of impact and was incinerated. Every year, I get to watch her die on television again and again. We have never found any trace of her.

I've been reading and watching a lot of discussion about a proposed "mosque" at "ground zero." Since I actually have a dog in this fight, here are some thoughts and clarifications:

It is not a mosque; it is a community center. It is not at "ground zero" (I hate that name; it's still called the World Trade Center). Its proposed location is on Park Place, which in Manhattan terms is as far away as Redmond is from Sisters; you can't see one from the other.

Finally, it's not a problem. I grew up in those buildings; I put on a corduroy safari suit at age 10 and went to lunch up there with my dad. My mom worked in the buildings, I loved to ride the express elevators all the way up and all the way down, all day long. I literally grew up in them. My entire family lives in Battery Park City, right next to the World Trade Center. The Muslim Community Center is just fine with us.

I would like to remind those people that claim to love this country but oppose this community center that this nation was founded upon a Constitution. In the United States, freedom of religion is a constitutionally guaranteed right provided in the religion clauses of the First Amendment.

Our forefathers created the concept of freedom of religion on this earth! We should feel proud of that fact. I certainly do. Freedom of religion means that anyone can build anything wherever the building codes allow. End of discussion.

I've had many Muslims work for me over the years, they are good, hardworking, family-oriented people. Muslims didn't kill my sister Cathy; crazy, hate-loving, misguided Saudi Arabian young men killed my sister. Those men were raised, educated, clothed, housed and fed in Saudi Arabia. In fact, it has been proven that Saudi companies and individuals gave them the money to buy the airplane tickets to board the planes that they hijacked and killed with!

If you want to blame someone for what happened on September 11th, blame the Saudis. Their state-sponsored terrorism along with our reckless foreign policies combined to allow the creation of those monsters.

Why don't more Americans ask why those men hated us so much that they were willing to sacrifice their lives to murder innocent Americans? Why? I'd tell you, but then I'd probably end up on some TSA watch list. Suffice it to say, we blindly support a nation in the Middle East that has and continues to commit genocide. Why do we support them? I haven't got a clue. I do know this: we Americans need to compel them to stop the genocide and forge a fair and equitable peace in that part of the world.

You know, it wasn't that long ago (50 years) that a Catholic Church, Jewish Temple, Mormon Temple or other houses of worship would have had a tough time buying the land and building a building in many parts of this country. At one time in Oregon's history (the 1920s), Catholic schools were illegal. The original Christian Church, founded by Simon Peter was illegal. Was that fair? Was that Constitutional? Come on folks, we're better than that.

Candidly, I'm more afraid of Goldman Sachs than I am of Muslims. You should be too.

Andrew Gorayeb is a resident of Sisters.