Letters to the editor (Oct. 30, 2018)

Religious freedom

You know, the proudest I am about this country is we’ve gotten religious freedom right. Churches, synagogues, temples, mosques and every other house of worship can be found on every street in America and nobody cares. As long as religion is kept out of my government and the candidates who want my vote don’t use their religion to try and sway me — I’ll head for the other guy quick fast if they do — I am all for live and let live when it comes to how people worship or don’t worship at all.

But here we go again, some nut job — why even say his name — in Pennsylvania has decided this time Jews are the enemy. And since this country allows anyone to own enough weapons to take down Cuba, he put that hate into action and killed 11 people. Jew, Muslims, Christians, as far as I’m concerned there isn’t a nickel’s worth of difference between any of them. They all believe in a God, they just differ on how you get to him. Why this guy thought Jews were killing his “people,” is beyond me, but people are now dead. Man, just when I thought we’d gotten it right.

Agreement on caravan

Amidst all the nasty rhetoric and inability of our elected officials to get things done, my conservative friend and I, who have very different political viewpoints, had a discussion about how to handle the large group of migrants trekking across Central America. Here is how we came to an agreement on how to deal with this issue.

The first thing we did was to agree on established facts. These people are fleeing violence and poverty in several Central American countries. A similar situation happened in the past year and most of them did not enter the United States. The few who did were processed and a few were arrested, many stayed in Mexico and some turned back. It will take this group a month to get to the U.S. border, so there is time to prepare.

Since we have time, detention facilities can be prepared and personnel can be moved as necessary There is no need to separate families. As migrants are questioned, those who have criminal records can be arrested and the others can be processed as we have always done. In other words, follow the procedure. This might take a little longer with a large group, but stick to the process.

It wasn’t that difficult to agree on a solution because we weren’t trying to make political points, as our elected officials often seem to do. We established a set of facts we could agree on. Then we started looking for a practical solution instead retrenching to an ideological tribalism.

Let’s elect people who look for solutions instead of reacting on ideological grounds. Think before you vote.

Stop the violence

The extensive coverage of the violence at a Pittsburgh house of worship brought back memories from my past. My father grew up in a smoke-filled valley community because his father worked for George Westinghouse at his mill, lived in a house rented from him, and ate food purchased at the the only store, also owned by Mr. Westinghouse.

When, because of pulmonary TB, dad could not attend college, he secured an administrative position with the local bus company. He then purchased a house on the highest point in the county so we always have clean air to breathe.

The Jewish community wisely largely live on a hill also above the pollution known as Squirrel Hill and built the above Synagogue to also be above the smoke, which at the time polluted Pittsburgh. My all-male, religion-based high school was at the bottom of Squirrel Hill in the smoke, which allowed me to occasionally to pass by the above house of worship.

This outburst of violence directed against this respectable religious group must stopped. Communities living by their houses of worship are an asset and strengthen the general community. Let us pray that identifying and punishing the perpetrators will discourage this behavior in the future.