conversion | 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

Peace, Part II

Furious Berlusconi demands apology from wife

Now, which emoticon should I use?! 🙄 😯 😥 😆

I don’t know if either of the Berlusconis are Christians, but I suppose one could also wonder who the real Christians are in this next story.

U.S. denies letting troops convert Afghans

The U.S. military denied Monday it has allowed soldiers to try to convert Afghans to Christianity, after a television network showed pictures of soldiers with bibles translated into local languages.

General Order Number 1 from the U.S. military’s Central Command forbids active duty troops — including all those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan — from trying to convert people to their religion, considered a crime in many Muslim countries.

[…]

“The translated bibles were never distributed as far as we know, because the soldier understood that if he distributed them he would be in violation of general order 1, and he would be subject to punishment.”

No man can serve to masters, Jesus said once upon a time.

Besides, those soldiers are there to kill people, not save them. Or am I missing something?

Other reading: Kosovo and Serbia: A Case Study Regarding Christians in the Military

Iran: Shall We Kill More?

Iranians consider mandatory execution for apostasy:

A plan is being discussed by lawmakers in Iran that would require the death penalty for anyone who leaves Islam for Christianity or someone who promotes such a conversion even on the Internet, according to a new report from Compass Direct News.

Those discussions of a penal code that was drafted earlier this year bring urgency to situations such as the two men arrested recently and under interrogation for that very crime, the report said.

The report said Iranian authorities arrested a number of converts to Christianity in the city of Shiraz about two months ago on suspicion of “apostasy.”

Arash Bandari, 44, and Mahmood Matin, 52, were arrested at the time along with 13 other Muslim converts to Christianity. But while the other 13 were told they have a court case pending and then released, Bandari and Matin have been held ever since.

The 13 who have been released have not been told of any specific charges, but they report the nature of their questioning gives them reason to think the allegations may include apostasy and political crimes.

The other two, Bandari and Matin, have been held almost incommunicado. Matin’s wife was able to see him for several minutes on June 24, when the prisoner told his wife “there had been a misunderstanding and that he could not teach Christianity any more,” Compass reported.

[…]

Compass noted that under the existing sharia laws in Iran, the death penalty is available for the crime of apostasy, but not required.