Children | Ain't Complicated

Fathima Rifqa Bary: Endangered?

First, from yesterday’s Miami Herald:

An Orlando judge on Monday ordered the 17-year-old woman into the custody of the Department of Children and Families until another hearing next week.

The teenager, who is not a U.S. citizen, says she fears her family would hurt her, kill her or send her back to her native Sri Lanka. Her parents live in Franklin County, Ohio.

The teenager took a bus from Ohio to Orlando. She has been staying with a family she met through a Christian prayer group on Facebook.

And now from this morning’s Examiner:

Rifqa claims her father repeatedly threatened to kill her for abandoning her Muslim upbringing, so the teen fled to Florida to stay with Pastors Blake and Beverly Lorenz of Global Revolution Church in Orlando, whom she had met on Facebook. The Lorenz’s sought the advice of attorneys and alerted authorities that the missing girl was in Florida.

The girl’s father, Mohamed Bary, has denied the allegations and traveled to Florida to bring his daughter home. However, the Florida DCF wants to be sure the girl is safe before sending her back to Ohio, who likely has jurisdiction in the case.

WFTV in Orlando, FL reports that DCF attorney Karelene Cole-Palmer has said, “There are too many conflicting things that are going on with this child and it needs to be investigated thoroughly.”

But for now, the girl will remain in the custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families until her next hearing on August 21.

PS: I’m a slow dial-up connection. Is that an objectionable video?

Found: Fathima Rifqa Bary

She’s been found safe!

Missing Teen Found Safe

Nearly three weeks after she was reported missing, a 16-year-old girl was found safe in Florida, police said on Friday.

Fathima Rifqa Bary, of New Albany, was last seen on July 19.

According to police, Bary’s friends told detectives that it was possible she ran away because of conflicting religious beliefs in her home.

I’m glad to learn she is safe.

I hope she continues safe…in every way.

Arrangements were being made for her return to central Ohio.

I know the media seems to have a knack for getting some of these stories out of whack. So maybe she comes from a truly loving home. And maybe her disappearance has nothing to do with tensions between a Christian teenager and Muslim parents.

Even so, it’s difficult not to think of cases such as that of Sarah and Amina Yaser Said.

May God be near her.

Missing: Fathima Rifqa Bary

Fathima Rifqa Bary

First, from the The Jawa Report:

Girl Who Converts to Christianity Goes Missing in Ohio

I’m not sure I have all the fact in the Fathima Rifqa Bary case. Here’s some of the info I’ve read and have been told about.

The 16 year old girl lives in a Muslim household, but recently made some professions that she was converting to Christianity.

She was last seen on July 19th. Her facebook account has been closed and her cell phone deactivated. Her friends are worried and claim this isn’t like her.

There is a missing persons report out on her, so I’m assuming that it was the family that filed the report.

There may be nothing in this related to her recent alleged conversion to Christianity. She could be just a kid that ran away from home for the normal reasons that kids run away from home. Or worse, the victim of an abduction.

Then this from 10TV News:

After Nearly 2 Weeks, New Albany Teen Still Missing

Police on Friday were still looking for information about a central Ohio teenager who vanished nearly two weeks ago.

Investigators said there is no evidence that Fathima Rifqa Bary, 16, is a victim of foul play, but they could not rule out that she is not in danger, 10TV’s Maureen Kocot reported.

[…]

Investigators said Bary is affiliated with two central Ohio churches: one on Cleveland Avenue and the other near the Ohio State University campus.

[…]

Anyone with information about the case was asked to call Columbus police at 614-645-4545.

Prayer Request: Fathima Rifqa Bary

PSA to Cows: Eat Grass

Strange and dumb are reasonably mild terms to apply to this:

The British government is sending out a different message: Sex can be fun and healthy, for young and old alike.

In two new leaflets, the National Health Service advises elderly patients that it’s “never too late to experiment” and tells teenagers that sex every day “keeps the doctor away.”

“Urging them to enjoy their own bodies is a bit like encouraging cows to eat grass or birds to fly,” said the Independent newspaper.

Those excerpts come from this WaPo story.

You want my take? No? Then quit reading here.

So you’re still reading. OK, thanks.

Urging them to sin against their own bodies is like encouraging cows to eat tansy or birds to fry…only worse. Much, much worse.

“Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18).

Instead of keeping the doctor away, I thought it brought on the doctors…for treating STDs and for “treating” pregnancy and for delivering babies. But, hey — maybe it doesn’t work in the Mother Country like it does here in the Colonies.

If you think that’s my Victorian morality showing through, that’s OK. I just as well have it (as long as it’s first Christian morality) since Victoria’s offspring seem to have sprung free of it.

Look, I know they’re not legislating anything (yet), but I’ve got a question. If you “can’t legislate morality,” can you legislate immorality?

HT: Emily Belz — “Forget abstinence education!”

The Larger the Family

“Studies have indicated that
the larger the family,
the less healthy the children are likely to be
and the less likely they are to realize their potential
levels of achievement.”
—Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment

Faked Cover Girls

The women in the pictures don’t even look like that.
—Norman Jameson

That quote is preceded by this short paragraph:

Air brush artists create more beautiful cover girls than all the diets, shampoos, make up, hair coloring and gyms in America. Yet, our daughters are emotionally bombarded, bullied and belittled by bold, bare images that bellow, “This is how you must look.”

So what do the cover girls show me? Something less than real. And what do those pictures of women announce? The same thing. Gals (and guys), remember that!

Disclaimer: I haven’t read the book in question. I haven’t read any books by Vicky Courtney. So I am in no way endorsing it or her, nor am I suggesting you buy or even read the book. But if you must purchase it, here’s a link that should generate a bit of profit for me: Five Conversations You Must Have with Your Daughter

On the other hand, maybe this book from Rod & Staff Publishers would interest you: Dear Princess.

HT: Thanks to Chas, prolific commenter at WorldMagBlog, for calling my attention to the above quotes!

Children and Parents

Here are three statements by John Coblentz:

In the confused values and hectic schedule of this day,
children need relationship with their parents more than ever.

The fundamental law of relationships:
We need to spend enjoyable time together.

We cannot build relationship with our children
without spending time with them.

Source: May/June 2009 Deeper Life Ministries Newsletter (reprinted from June 1999 Newsletter)