Justice in Florida for Rifqa Bary

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 >>

 

Muslims Don’t Murder Apostates, 9/11 Had Nothing to do with Islam

Fathima Rifqa Bary, the Muslim teenager who converted to Christianity at least four years ago but who only recently ran away, has been taken away from the two good Samaritan Christian pastors who took her in and is now in state custody in Florida. On Friday, a judge will decide whether her case should be heard in Florida or in Ohio. Her parents have “lawyered” up, her father Mohamed Bary, a jeweler, insists that he never threatened to kill her, that he wants her to come home. The mainstream media is getting nervous. What if they believe what Rifqa says and they end up sued? Or worse?

After all, the Columbus police have challenged the girl’s claim that she is in danger. Sgt Jerry Cupp, chief of the Columbus police missing person’s bureau, has said that “Mohamed Bary comes across to me as a loving, caring, worried father about the whereabouts and the health of his daughter.”

Continue reading on Chesler Chronicles >>

 

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

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.”

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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.’

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

CEAI Versus ACLU: David Versus Goliath

The following is from Christian Educators Association International:

Christian Educators Association International has filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit filed earlier this year by the ACLU against the Santa Rosa County School District in Florida.

“We are David facing a Goliath. The ACLU is engaged in a well-financed, systematic campaign to intimidate Christian educators across the nation. We feel this case is so important that we must take a stand,” says Finn Laursen, Executive Director of CEAI.

The ACLU charged that some teachers and administrators in the Florida district were actively endorsing religion. The school district attempted to settle the suit by joining with the ACLU in a consent decree that essentially bans all employees from engaging in prayer or religious activities, whether before, during, or after school hours.

The ACLU-authored consent decree defines prayer, school events, and school officials in such a way that employees who bow their head or fold their hands, pray over meals during lunch, or voice agreement with another in religious discussion at any time on school property or at any school event, can be found in contempt of court. It specifies that when individuals or community groups use school facilities for after- school religious events, no district employee, even on his or her own private time, may participate or communicate agreement in any prayer or religious discourse.

“The consent decree is so broad that it unconstitutionally infringes on the rights of teachers, administrators, and students,” says Laursen. “Our particular interest is that it violates the free speech and free exercise rights of CEAI members, both in their capacities as employees of the school board and as private citizens. The order also forces CEAI members to infringe upon the rights of students and others. CEAI will support its members employed by the Santa Rosa County School Board who are opposed to the unconstitutional consent order.”

“As a professional association for Christian educators founded in 1953, we have historically encouraged our members by informing them that they do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door. We have consistently clarified in print, through technology, and in workshops and seminars across the country what courts have always held, that schools are not religion free zones. We have corrected the misconception that prayer has been banned from public schools and that teachers are limited in their religious expression on their own time.”

“If we just sit by and allow constitutional religious freedoms to be bullied out of public schools, we will end up surrendering them all together. We are not willing to sit by and see this happen in Santa Rosa County.”

CEAI is represented in the case by Liberty Counsel.