Christian Father Faces Jail for Taking Daughter to Church

February 1, 2010 by Michael Ireland  
Filed under Church 2.0, Illinois, News and Opinion

Chicago, IL — A father from the Midwest who knew he could be accused of defying a court order barring him from taking his daughter to church took her anyway — and now he is facing contempt of court charges and jail.

Thirty-five-year-old Joseph Reyes, holding his 3-year-old in his arms, walked into Holy Name Cathedral on January 17. A news crew videotaped the act of defiance.

“I have been ordered by a judge not to expose my daughter to anything non-Judaism,” Reyes told a news reporter. “But I am taking her to hear the teachings of perhaps the most prominent Jewish Rabbi in the history of this great planet of ours. I can’t think of anything more Jewish than that.”

The prominent Jewish Rabbi that Reyes referenced was Jesus Christ.

Just before Christmas, a judge issued a temporary restraining order specifically barring Reyes from exposing his daughter to any religion other than Judaism after Reyes had his daughter Baptized without the knowledge of his estranged Jewish wife.

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American Minute for January 9th

January 9, 2010 by William J. Federer  
Filed under News and Opinion

He lost his first presidential race to John F. Kennedy by the smallest margin to that date. A Lieutenant Commander in the Navy during WWII, he was a Congressman, Senator, and Vice-President under Eisenhower. His name was Richard Milhous Nixon, born JANUARY 9, 1913.

He was the 37th U.S. President before becoming the only one to resign. He ended the draft, established the EPA, was the first President to visit Red China, sent the first astronauts to the moon, whom he addressed via radio telephone, and began the Space Shuttle program.

He appointed Supreme Court Justices Warren Burger, Harry Blackmun, Lewis Powell and William Rehnquist. In 1972 he was re-elected in one of the biggest landslides in history. A proponent of Civil Rights, President Nixon stated in his Inaugural Address, 1969: “No man can be fully free while his neighbor is not. To go forward at all is to go forward together. This means black and white together, as one nation, not two. The laws have caught up with our conscience. What remains is to give life to what is in the law: to ensure at last that as all are born equal in dignity before God, all are born equal in dignity before man.”

ENDNOTES

-American Minute with Bill Federer JANUARY 9. Nixon, Richard Milhous.
J-an. 20, 1969, Inaugural. Department of State Bulletin, Feb. 10, 1969.
-Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents – From George Washington 1789 to Richard Milhous Nixon 1969 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 91st Congress, 1st Session, House Document 91-142, 1969), pp. 275-279.
-The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968, 1977), Vol. 19, pp. 8-12. Benjamin Weiss, God in American History: A Documentation of America’s Religious Heritage (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1966), p. 154. J. Michael Sharman, J.D., Faith of the Fathers (Culpepper, VA: Victory Pub, 1995), p. 116-7.

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Ingraham & Diane Francis on a China-Style One-Child Policy to Stop Global Warming

December 14, 2009 by Orlando  
Filed under News and Opinion

On O’Reilly last, Laura Ingraham takes on Diane Francis’ suggestion that population control will help stop global warming.

Does ‘Go ye into all the world,’ include the internet? (Church Outreach 2.0 – 1 of 3)

December 12, 2009 by Jenn Sierra  
Filed under Church 2.0, FHK WebWarriors, News and Opinion

UPDATE 12/15/09: Click HERE to Download the .pdf of Church 2.0 – Online Outreach (All Three Parts)

The following is part of a series on Web 2.0 for Christians, and Christian Leaders. See Church 2.0 for a list of the posts to-date.

Update 12/13/09: See the response from Dwight Baker, The Mission is for Those That Have Passion

My heart sank yesterday as I received yet another e-mail from yet another Christian friend of mine announcing that he was retreating from the “evils” of the internet. This time, it was a pastor, and this time the “evil” was Google. I don’t know what his specific reasons were – I’m sure they were good ones. Google is, after all, on a mission to commandeer the world’s information. Others I know have simply hired virtual assistants to handle their “internet stuff” for themselves and their churches so they don’t have to “go there,” any more than is absolutely necessary. Many I know refuse to even use the web for anything more than e-mail, explaining that it’s just “too dangerous.”

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. -Mark 16:15-20 (KJV)

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What’s WALNUT?

November 17, 2009 by Buffoon  
Filed under For Your Entertainment

A little known fact is that China has an organization that has operated for 63 years funded by the communist Chinese government called WALNUT (acronym has no English translation) that works to address issues of discrimination, affordable housing, a quality education, or better public services.

The only thing that sets the Chinese group apart from our American ACORN is that the Chinese community organization, WALNUT actually seeks to keep the oppressed, oppressed the poor, poor and the stupid, stupid.

Oh… Maybe they’re not so different after all.

My bad.


For more Buffoonery, visit Democrat=Socialist (DEqualsS.com)


 

The Reconstruction of American Journalism

October 25, 2009 by Cindy Downes  
Filed under FHK WebWarriors, News and Opinion

I just read through the document, The Reconstruction of American Journalism by Leonard Downie, Jr. and Michael Schudson. I found it a bit disturbing.

The article discusses the current transition of traditional media in light of the Internet, and the future funding of traditional media.

“As this report will explain, credible independent news reporting cannot flourish without news organizations of various kinds, including the print and digital reporting operations of surviving newspapers. But it is unlikely that any but the smallest of these news organizations can be supported primarily by existing online revenue. That is why we will be exploring a variety and mixture of ways to support news reporting, which must include nonmarket sources like philanthropy and government.” (emphasis mine)

The authors recommend creating government-sponsored news organizations (tax exempt and government funded – in part or in full) as the solution to this problem.

In addition, they want universities to train students in “enterprise and accountability journalism, which by definition bring new information to light, can grow into society-changing work not that dissimilar to academic research that makes original contributions to knowledge in history and the social sciences.” (emphasis mine)

My question is: if government funds the news media, who is going to watch the government? Will we be able to criticize the government if they control the media? Isn’t this a problem in China?

Also, is it the role of news reporting to “change” society? What happened to news reporters simply reporting the news? Using the media to “change” society sounds like propaganda to me. Do we really want government-sponsored, propaganda-based news?

You may (or may not) agree with the current government or like some of the current media offerings, but what will happen when we get a new batch of politicians? How will these people restrict free speech in the process of “supporting” news reporting and “providing” independent reporting. How will this or a new administration want to “change” society using the media or restricting the use of media? You can’t just look at one administration. These rules will evolve as the government evolves, either for good or for bad.

I, for one, am tired of our government bailing out failed and/or outdated companies using taxpayer money. We didn’t bail out the manual typewriter manufacturers or the stagecoach manufacturers. I’m sure jobs were lost, but progress created new jobs in the same or in new industries. If the traditional media dies, a new media industry will take its place. New jobs will be created and media will still be independent of government. Then let’s spend our government money on reeducating those who lost jobs so they can compete in the new industries.

If we keep bailing out automobile manufacturers, banks, and newspapers with government funding, we may keep the same jobs, but will it be worth it? What will we lose in the process?

Update: Snooper has commentary

Originally posted on EmptyNestMom Goes to College

Major property rights victory in TX Defeat of I-35 Trans Texas Corridor

October 8, 2009 by Larry Gilbert  
Filed under News and Opinion, Texas

It’s a great day for the little guys who put their heads together and created a legal strategy that blocked a major transportation corridor project in Texas that was supported by both Governor Rick Perry and former President George W. Bush. For months (or possibly years) the federal government denied existence of a plan to build a massive NAFTA superhighway project from Mexico to Canada that included The I-35 Trans Texas Corridor. The plan would have included the “condemnation of 146 acres per mile to build the highway.”

Last Oct I met with the local activists fighting this quarter mile wide freeway when Attending an Americans for Prosperity’s “Defending the American Dream” Summit in Washington. As our state did not offer a property rights topic I attended the state of Wisconsin’s break out session where I learned of the Stewards of the Range activity and met Fred Kelly Grant, their President, who is one of the leaders. Their combined groups found a loophole in Chapter 391 of Texas local government code that enabled the “grass roots” opposition to eventually block the state of Texas Master Plan. You can read that Orange Juice post dated Oct 13, 2008.

For those not familiar with the corridor “containers coming from China to a Chinese port in Mexico will be loaded onto sealed Mexican trucks that will be driven north and pass scanners in the “Smart Port” terminal in Kansas on their way to Canada.”

This I-35 corridor was to be the first link in this massive interstate system.

The Oct 7th-8th Press Announcement reads in part: “In a press conference in Austin, Texas, Amadeo Saenz, executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT), announced on behalf of Texas Governor Rick Perry, that the Trans-Texas Corridor, I-35 segment is dead. TXDOT will be recommending the “No Build” option to the Federal Highway Administration.”

Big bucks were behind this massive freeway including the Spanish firm Cintra-Zachary a “75% Spanish owned corporation that was to collect tolls, lease income and fees generated for 50 years.” The press release reveals that “$6.1 million was spent by TTC Contractors for paid lobbyist(s) to get the project through.”

A sweet property rights victory for sure!

The full Press Announcement can be read at Stewards.us (.pdf download).

Also posted on Orange Juice

 

Obama Admin Allows Communist Flag Raising Over Washington, DC for first time ever!

September 25, 2009 by Orlando  
Filed under News and Opinion

The Obama administration made history on Sunday September 20, 2009 by allowing the communist government of China to raise their national flag to celebrate the 60 year anniversary of the birth of the communist regime.

 

A UN State of Mind – Where Tyrants Are Literally Never Stopped

September 24, 2009 by Phyllis Chesler  
Filed under News and Opinion

We live at a moment in history when tyrants hold forth with none to stop them. Ahmadinejad-the-Monster held forth in all his western-suited glory at the UN and so did the terrorist, Gaddafi. No one at the UN stopped the Libyan madman from speaking well beyond his allotted 15 minutes. If the UN can’t even do this, can you imagine them actually stopping a genocide or a terrorist plot in process?

If they can’t or won’t, why are we funding them? Why do they exist?

The American President has decided to “engage” with the UN and with the world of tyrants. Perhaps he can, perhaps he thinks like them. Me—I have an increasingly hard time dealing with their righteous arrogance and post-colonial resentments, not to mention their demonization of Israel. For example, let me share two recent conversations with you.

In retrospect, both conversations were a little like talking to Red Guard Maoist youth leaders in 1949 in China…Continue reading on Chesler Chronicles >>

I Do Solemnly Swear … To Lie

September 3, 2009 by TXPoet  
Filed under News and Opinion

 obama_swearing_in

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

This is the oath a President takes on Inauguration Day. This is the oath of office that Barack Obama took.

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

This is the oath that every military member takes.

Do you notice the difference?

Let’s look at a few facts.

China just announced that on October 1st in its National Day Parade it will unveil several new short, medium and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Russian Air Force contracts $190 million to buy new missiles.

Russia is developing new missiles to counter the US’ defensive missile umbrella developed and promised to Allies.

Iran has made and is making or altering pre-existing missiles that can now reach Israel and Southern Europe. In addition Iran is testing missiles in such a manner it is likely that they will be used to create an electrical magnetic pulse instead of a ground explosion and have purchased submarines as a delivery system.

North Korea has been testing in violation of UN agreements, short, medium and long range missiles. They are also suspected of selling missile guidance system information to Iran, Pakistan, and Burma.

Obama has cut the 2010 budget for missile purchase and research by 1.2 billion dollars. He has also reneged on the NATO missile shield program and discontinued all funding. Poland and the Czech Republic are left defenseless in the path of overt Russian aggression. Georgia has already been invaded and our allies now are just waiting for the attack that is to come. Obama has already suggested the reduction of our munitions and missiles. He is reducing the size of the military while trying to increase his own personal National Security Force. In a Bill (HR 645) already introduced he desires large interment camps to be established for “national emergencies”.

Obama believes the Constitution that he swore to upholds is flawed.

If Obama had taken the second oath, the oath of enlistment, he would already be on trial for failing that oath. As for his violating the inauguration oath, well he doesn’t believe in Our Constitution any way.

This is a man whose past is hidden and murky. His allegiances unknown. This man would not even be allowed to join our Armed Forces with what we know and what we still don’t know.

Now tell me again why there is no move to impeach this man?


Ghost Ranger

Ghost Ranger, Tex’s first novel, is now available on Lulu and Amazon.

 

 

 

 



Justice in Florida for Rifqa Bary

August 22, 2009 by Phyllis Chesler  
Filed under Florida, News and Opinion, Ohio

Breaking News!

The Case Remains in Orlando

Judge Daniel Dawson has just decided that Rifqa Bary’s fate will be decided in his court in Florida. You may read about it here and here. This means that Judge Dawson will hear the case on September 3rd.

It also means that the incredibly brave 17-year-old will remain safe in Florida state custody until that hearing.

I have been doing media interviews all afternoon, from as far away as China. However, this case has not as yet been covered by CNN. As one of my readers has pointed out, Fox has led the national media in their coverage of the case. (Kudos to journalist Joshua Rhett Miller who is always there when it matters)…Continue reading on Chesler Chronicles >>

 

Lao Soldiers Decapitate Two-Month-Old Girl Ahead of Senator Webb’s Visit

August 21, 2009 by Jeremy Reynalds  
Filed under News and Opinion, Virginia

Infant used as target practice during military attacks that leave 26 civilians dead

A human rights organization has just learned that Lao soldiers captured, mutilated and decapitated a two-month-old girl during recent military attacks against Hmong and Laotian civilians. Survivors of the attack said the infant was used for target practice.

Laos is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People’s Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west.

Speaking in a news release from human rights organization International Christian Concern (ICC), Vaughn Vang, the Director of the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council, said, “We are told, by some of the Lao Hmong survivors of the recent military attacks in Laos, that the LPDR (Lao Peoples Democratic Republic) soldiers of the LPA (Lao Peoples Army) used the . Lao Hmong girl, while she was still alive, for target practice . once she was captured and tied up; they mutilated her little body and continued to fire their weapons, over and over . until her head just eventually came off after so many bullets severed her head.”

ICC said the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) reported the incidents, claiming that eight children were captured and 26 Hmong and Laotian civilians were murdered during a series of four major attacks over the past month. They were apparently designed to stifle “religious and political dissidents” ahead of a visit by U.S. Senator Jim Webb. Christian Hmong were mostly certainly among those attacked as they are often targeted specifically by the regime.

With ages ranging from two months to eight years old, ICC reported that the captured children remain a concern to Vang, who said that their whereabouts were unknown and that they would likely be tortured and killed by the soldiers. The decapitated child’s body was found next to her mother, who had also been tortured and killed by Lao soldiers. A number of the female victims were raped and tortured before they were killed. The most recent attack occurred on Aug. 13.

Unfortunately, this level of brutality against women and children is not uncommon for Lao soldiers, ICC reported. It is standard procedure for soldiers to surround and isolate pockets of Hmong people and starve them out to be killed when they venture out to forage.

Philip Smith, the Executive Director of CPPA, told ICC of video footage smuggled out of Laos in 2004 that documents the aftermath of the killing and brutalization of five Hmong children, four of them girls, on May 19 2004.

That footage was used in the graphic documentary, “Hunted Like Animals,” by Rebecca Sommer. Clips can be viewed at rebeccasommer.org, but they contain highly graphic content.

Natalia Rain, ICC’s Regional Manager for East Asia, said in the news release, “Rights groups have rightly called the acts the Lao military commits against children and civilians war crimes. Let the international community not be guilty of the same by its silence in the face of a regime who has already been allowed so much room that it has reached the heights of sadism in the torture and decapitation of a two-month-old little girl.”

ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. For additional information contact www.persecution.org


Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico’s largest emergency homeless shelter. He has a master’s degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is “The Face of Homelessness.” Reynalds’ latest book is “We All Need a Little Help.” It was released on October 3 2008. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Muslim Teen Who Converted to Christianity Says Family Threatened to Kill Her

August 13, 2009 by Michael Ireland  
Filed under Florida, News and Opinion, Ohio

An Ohio teenager who says she ran away from home because her family threatened to kill her for converting from Islam to Christianity, is now in the custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families (DFC), local and national media have been reporting.

The teenager testified Monday at a custody hearing in Orlando that she’d recently changed religions and is worried her relatives will do something drastic, according to WFTV in Orlando and Central Florida News 13.

“They have to kill me because I’m a Christian. It’s an honor (issue),” the girl told WFTV.

Such threats are common, even in the United States, her attorney, Rosa Gonzalez, told News 13.

“She says her life is in danger and she could be killed in an honor killing,” Gonzalez said after the hearing — which was held because the teenager’s parents are trying to regain custody of her.

FOX News reports that the teen, a non-citizen whose parents are from Sri Lanka, has for several weeks been staying with an Orlando couple who are pastors of a new Christian church there. She met them on a Facebook prayer group.

Her father denied his daughter’s allegations to NBC 4 in Orlando, saying he never threatened to kill his daughter because she rejected Islam. He was in Florida for a court hearing, but was reportedly traveling back to Ohio Tuesday.

While for the time being, The Florida Department of Children and Families currently has custody of her, ultimately, Ohio authorities will decide where the teen should live, FOX News stated.

ABC News’ Sarah Netter reports that although the father insists he is not a menace to his daughter, a Florida court has placed the 17-year-old girl in foster care until her claims can be investigated.

According to ABC News, the teen left home in New Albany, Ohio, last month and hopped on a bus to Orlando to meet with husband and wife pastors Blake and Beverly Lorenz, who she met through a Facebook prayer group for the couple’s non-denominational Global Revolution Church.

“When she came to our house, she told us her parents would not report her missing,” Blake Lorenz told ABCNews.com.

Apparently they did immediately report their daughter missing but the disappearance reached local news stations and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Pastor Lorenz said the teen, a native of Sri Lanka, had secretly converted from Islam to Christianity four years ago, but her religion was only discovered recently. She had snuck out to an area church where, according to Lorenz, she had an “incredible encounter with Jesus.”

Lorenz said the teen was so moved she posted about it on her Facebook page, writings that would later be seen by her friends from her family’s mosque and reported to her father, ABC News said.

“That’s when he threatened to kill her for the first time,” Lorenz said, adding that he didn’t know on how many other occasions that threat had been made.

ABC News said the battle finally came to a head about a month ago, he said, when her mother found a Christian book in the house while the father was out of town. The girl’s mother, he said, threatened to tell her father.

“She did say she was dead to her” if she didn’t renounce her Christian faith, Lorenz said.

The teen confirmed to ABC’s Orlando affiliate WFTV that she believed her father would kill her.

“They have to kill me because I’m a Christian. It’s an honor [killing]. If they love me more than God, then they have to kill me,” she explained.

ABC News said that terrified and fearing she would be the victim of an honor killing, the teen got on a bus and borrowed a cell phone to contact Beverly Lorenz who she had been communicating with after finding the Lorenzes’ church on Facebook.

The pastors’ first move was to call an attorney, several of them, actually, ABC News said.

“No one really knew what to do,” Lorenz said, pointing out that she was not only a minor, but that she had crossed state lines and she wasn’t even a U.S. citizen.

ABC News reports that Blake Lorenz said the girl arrived late at night after a two-day trip. The next morning, the couple called police for advice, but did not tell them her name. They did report her presence two weeks later, he said, when the couple realized the teen’s parents had reported her missing.

Lorenz said he fears the teen is “definitely not safe.” He pointed to other suspected honor killings in Muslim families, including two Texas sisters who were murdered by their Muslim father Jan. 1, 2008, in what some believed to be religion-fueled rage over the girls’ Western ways.

The teen’s father has been in Florida trying to bring his daughter home. A woman who answered the phone at the girl’s home in Ohio said she was a relative, but declined to answer any questions.

The father told WFTV that there was no truth to his daughter’s claims.

Pastor Lorenz said he called the abuse hotline Friday. Elizabeth Arenas, a public information officer for the Florida Department of Children and Families, said the girl is now in foster care, she said, while Florida officials work with Ohio child services to investigate the teen’s claims.

“We just want to be sure she’s going to be safe,” Arenas said.

ABC News reported that the teen, her father, Lorenz and Florida DCF officials appeared in court Monday where a judge ordered her to remain in state custody for now. The teen is being represented by a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal group that takes on conservative Christian causes.

“When she saw her dad yesterday, she was scared to death,” Blake Lorenz said. “She literally believes she’s going to be killed.”

As for the father, he said, “I don’t want to make him out to be a monster, because I’m sure he’s not.”

ABC News reported that Arenas, who said the father has been cooperative with Florida DCF officials, said the state had recommended the teen be placed in Ohio state custody. But a judge Monday granted emergency jurisdiction to the Florida DCF, meaning the girl will remain in the state’s care at least until the next hearing, scheduled for Aug. 21.

Her parents were also given supervised visitation rights, but only at the discretion of their daughter. Arenas said she was unsure if the teen had met with her parents since the hearing.

“I don’t want to see my father,” the teen told WFTV.

Amy L. Edwards and Rene Stutzman, Staff Writers for the Orlando Sentinel newspaper (www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-ohio-teen-convert-custody-dispute-081009,0,4993216.story ) in a report to which Walter Pacheco contributed, said the girl, who turned 17 on Monday, is at the center of a custody dispute in Orlando, where she sought help from a family she barely knew — a pastor and his wife willing to take in a teen who feared her own family’s retribution because she converted to Christianity.

The Orlando Sentinel did not identify the teen because of her age.

The two reporters said she looked more like a timid child clinging to her protector than an Ohio teen runaway brazen enough to flee her Muslim family out of fear for her life.

The girl appeared before a crowded courtroom full of lawyers and spectators on Monday when an Orange Circuit Court Judge ordered her into Department of Children and Families emergency custody.

The newspaper said it was another in a series of legal decisions in a complicated case: Beyond the girl’s religious preferences, the court must solve jurisdictional issues related to child services and courts.

In addition, the teen, a native of Sri Lanka, is not a U.S. citizen, the newspaper stated.

The newspaper reported that her dispute with her family became news several weeks ago when the girl ran away from her home in Columbus, Ohio. She hitch-hiked to a Greyhound station and boarded a bus to Orlando.

Once there, she borrowed a cell phone to call Beverly Lorenz, who with husband Blake Lorenz is a pastor of Global Revolution Church in Orlando. The Lorenzes met the girl through a prayer group on Facebook.

The newspaper said that although the girl was a stranger, Beverly Lorenz told her they would house her. The teen told the Lorenzes she feared her family would hurt her, kill her or send her back to Sri Lanka, Beverly Lorenz said.

“We are doing everything we can to protect her,” said Blake Lorenz, who said he has been told his life may be in jeopardy.

Meanwhile, the girl’s parents reported to Ohio law enforcement authorities that their daughter was missing. They put together a flier, with her picture on it, asking for tips to her whereabouts, the newspaper said.

Beverly Lorenz said they called an abuse hotline, prompting a visit on Friday from the Orlando police. Officers picked up the girl to be placed in state custody.

The newspaper said the Lorenzes appeared in court with the teen Monday, as did her father from Ohio.

According to the newspaper report, when the petite girl walked into court, she immediately bolted for Beverly Lorenz, who held her. The teen then joined Blake Lorenz at a table with lawyers. He comforted her throughout the entire hearing with his arm around her shoulder.

Rosa Gonzalez, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, told Orange Circuit Judge Gail A. Adams the teen is in fear for her life. The sight of her father makes the teen “frantic and hysterical,” Gonzalez said.

The newspaper said the teen’s father said little during the hearing.

Reached by an Orlando Sentinel reporter by phone, the girl’s mother said little. “Yes, of course” her daughter would be safe should a judge eventually order her back there, she said.

The woman also said the girl’s father would not harm his daughter if she wanted to be a Christian. She referred other questions to her husband. He did not answer his cell phone after the hearing.

Gonzalez said her organization, which sends pro bono lawyers to work on cases involving Christian issues, is concerned the teen could be returned to her parents, the newspaper reported.

“We don’t take those threats lightly,” she said.

Imam Hatim Hamidullah, with the Islamic Society of Central Florida, said the Muslim faith does not call for a father to hurt his child, should she convert to another religion.

“It is not Islam for the father to bring harm upon his blood daughter or any other human being because of anger,” he said. “Our position is to exhaust all measures that would bring peace and harmony back to the family,” Hamidullah said. “Being angry and threatening the life of someone is not one of those methods.”

A DCF spokeswoman said the agency is working with Ohio officials to ensure the teen’s “safety and well being.”

The newspaper said that attempts to talk to the teen after the hearing were unsuccessful — her legal guardians ushered her out of the building without letting her speak to a reporter.

On a babysitter Website, the girl described herself this way: “One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is cheerleading for my high school and of course tumbling as well. I have a little brother who is about to turn 5 years old. With this, I have had a lot of experience with toddlers and many years of sitting for him.”

Blake Lorenz, who retired after serving as pastor at Pine Castle United Methodist Church for several years, said the teen believes her dad will kill her.

“We are doing everything we can to protect her,” he said.

After Monday’s hearing, Blake Lorenz said he was relieved the teen is not returning back to her family in Ohio immediately, but he’s still cautious. He’s “very concerned that the system will let her down.”


Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. Michael has traveled to Albania and the former Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany and the former Czechoslovakia, Israel, and Canada. He has reported for ANS from Jordan, China, Russia, Jamaica, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Michael’s volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department — Michael Ireland Media Missionary (MIMM) — of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649,at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can donate online to support his stated mission of ‘Truth Through Christian Journalism.’


Also see: Honor Killing Averted: Muslim Convert to Christianity Flees For Her Life, by Phyllis Chesler

Lies of AE911Truth Exposed 1

June 30, 2009 by Victor Chabala  
Filed under New York, News and Opinion

It is time to bring the lies of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 “Truth” (AE911Truth) to light.

First, as we see, here, AE911Truth claims that over 24,000 Architects and engineers came face to face with the truth.  However, as this site points out, if you go to AE911Truth’s own site, you’ll see they only added 50 new petitioners, and if you watch the videos from AE911Truth’s own Web site, you’ll see that only 4 of those 50 were architects or engineers.

As we see here, that means the actual percentage of Architects and Engineers that are members of AE911Truth is a whopping 0.000166%.

In addition, if you go a little further down the Web site here, you will see even more evidence of Ae911Truth’s deception.  The owner of this Web site (who I might add is, as we see here, by his OWN ADMISSION, a LIBERAL who, again, by his OWN ADMISSION, is more than willing to believe the worst of the Bush Administration.  However, unlike AE911Truth, the “Scholars” for 9/11 “Truth,” etc, he is, at least, an honest researcher) points out that a little further research shows that there’s a problem with the Architects and Engineers for 911Truth’s claim to have 640 architects and engineers asking for a new investigation.  In point of fact, that total of 640 includes architect and engineering students, as well as other people who work  in those offices ( Hint: People who work in those offices aren’t necessarily architects or engineers- they could be secretaries). In point of fact, when everyone except those with licenses and degrees is excluded, there are only 284 names, and that’s with a broad definition of engineer- there are landscape and electrical engineers on that list (source). Scroll further down this site, and you will see that AE911Truth is again using the Beijing skyscraper fire just last February to “prove” their point.        

AE911Truth states’ that the Beijing skyscraper was comparable in size to WTC 7, which is technically true, but this site points out some details that AE911Truth leaves out: 1) The skyscraper in question was REINFORCED CONCRETE and steel, much like the new WTC 7 will be- and concrete is far more resistant to fire than steel.  This site also makes an aside that the “truthers” who support a controlled demolition of the WTC use the Madrid Windsor fire and make a big deal out of the fact that it didn’t collapse, while ignoring the fact that the steel in the Madrid Windsor fire DID melt, and it’s the reinforced concrete that survived, 2) The Beijing skyscraper was built  by Arup AFTER conducting an EXTENSIVE study of the WTC collapses, and 3) The Beijing skyscraper was built to withstand major earthquakes.  If it’s built to withstand the huge earthquakes that often occur China ( and the Pacific Rim ( aka, the “Ring of Fire”) in general, how is fire going to bother it?

Oh, and one other detail: As I pointed out in a previous article, there are two other differences as well: 1) The Beijing fire was fought, and 2) Unlike WTC 1,2, and &, the Beijing skyscraper did NOT suffer SEVERE structural damage before catching fires.

When it comes to honesty, AE911Truth makes Bill Clinton look like a Boy Scout.