Rifqa Bary Part II: The fake apostate conspiracy By Davi Barker

September 3, 4:46 AMSF Muslim Examiner - Davi Barker

There is no might or power on earth or in Heaven greater than God.

WND located this photo of Tayee Adrian, Rifqa's liason with Xenos Cult.

I'm way out on a limb here, but I think I figured it out! Tell me if this makes sense... if you're just tuning in go back and read Rifqa Part I: The Xenos Cult

It's 2:44 am, and I haven't slept, but the trial is today and I don't have time to polish this, so here's some real gonzo journalism. I do this all for you, my dear reader.

The Franklin County Children Services in Ohio conducted a nearly month long investigation and concluded that the allegations against Muhammad Bary were unsubstantiated and it was safe for Rifqa to return home. Although they recommended therapy for the girl, and Muhammad agreed the whole family could use counseling.


That's bad for the anti-Muslim narrative, so John Stemberger filed a memorendum basically saying, "No it's not the Dad... it's the whole community!" Basically the Noor Islamic center is connected to Dr. Saqr, who's connected to Salah Soltan, who's connected to Al-Qaradawi, who's connected to Al Qaeda and Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and all the evil people in the world. He actually said this is the memorendum. "The Muslim Brotherhood... an international organization responsible for birthing virtually every Islamic terrorist organization in the world!"

Therefore Ohio is not safe. Carry out that arguement all 10,000 Muslims at the Noor Islamic Center Community are terrorists by association. Let's just take away all their kids and give them to good evangelical families? I'll tell you one thing reader... if she's not safe in Ohio, she's not safe in Florida. All it took was a little creative Googling and I was able to determine the likely address where she's staying*... But I digress.

Oh my dear reader! I can play the association game. Check this out...

My contacts in Ohio on the case say that Xenos materials and a Flash drive containing the diary of Pastor Brian Williams were found in her bedroom and were turned over to police. They also confirm that I was right about the man in the room in the video as I described in Part I. That he was bald, had a goatee. They tell me he was also at the hearing on the 21st and addressed Muhammad Bary is "Brother" like a Muslim. But this guy was not a Muslim. He was interviewed after the trial in Florida twice by CBN:


This guy is Jamal Jivanjee.
Jamal Jivanjee claims to be a Muslim apostate from Columbus. He befriended Rifqa in Columbus long before she fled to Florida. He was also at the court house Friday August 21st. Bald guy with a goatee.


Ok... check this out.

If he's the coach in the first video, that means he went with Rifqa from Ohio to Florida. And that means that this is probably the guy that Lorenz is protecting when he says he doens't want to reveal who bought her the ticket.

"The pastor won't say who bought Rifqa's ticket. He is trying to protect the person" ~ Orlando Sentinal

I'd even bet (if I were a betting man) that there is no ticket and Jamal drove her the whole way.

But it get's better...
Jamal Jivanjee is on the board of directors of "illuminate" and on his bio he says he's a graduate of Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA where he studied Pastoral ministry. The President of the Liberty Theological Seminary and Professor of Apologetics at Liberty University is Ergun Mehmet Caner. Ergun Caner was interviewed by the Florida Baptist Witness early in the Rifqa contraversy but he dropped out of the frey.


Ergun claims to be another Christian convert from Islam from Columbus Ohio, and claims that he lives his life with a fatwa against his life from that community, which makes him uniquely qualified to speak about this case. This man is a complete charlatan! He is a fraud! He is a liar! A dajjal! I strongly suggest you take a look at this video. It's the first in an eight part series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRDyOaCJ3t0&feature=player_embedded

Ergun Mehmet Caner is FAKE apostate. He and as his brothers are these Christians that go around claiming to be ex-Muslim preaching lies about how aweful being a Muslim is. If you didn't watch the series here's some highlights. He claims his father built that mosque, and that he was trained to be the muadhin, but he misprounounces it! In part 2 he says the Shahada is "bismillakh aman arakhim mukhamdu alham arakhman arakhim." In part 3 he says that Ramadan is 40 days, and he says, "Jesus strapped himself to a cross so I wouldn't have a stap a bomb to myself." And he's always careful to point out that apostates risked their culture, families and lives for Jesus by leaving Islam. This man was never a Muslim!


So we're dealing with liars. And what's worse, they train other fake apostates! This is the sourse. This is the propagandist. The brainwasher. Ergun trains anti-Muslim propagandists. Jamal is a student of Ergun. Rifqa is a "friend" of Jamal. These are the people who turned typical arguments between a completely westernized teenage cheerleader and her liberal parents into death threats and honor killing from Islamic jihadists in Rifqa's mind.

That's all I have for now. It's not proof yet, but I think this raises some serious questions about how all these people are connected. It's still just a theory. But I think it's a stronger chain of reasoning than "They're all TERRORISTS!" Hopfully it comes full circle in the trial today.

* Clarifiaction Added 09/14/09 - Apparently this has really upset the Anti-Muslim Brain Trust who think that I am stalking Rifqa Bary. I've gotten a number of hateful and threatening messages about this thanks to an article about me by Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs. Frankly, I'm more consumed with the final 10 days of Ramadan, which is more important to me than engaging with Pamela, but I feel compelled to make some response.



To be clear I did not seek out this address. I will not share it, and I don't believe she is in any real danger. I discovered it accidentally during my normal investigative process. My point was to demonstrate that the debate over her safety in Ohio or Florida is a red herring. I personally feel the motivation in fighting to keep the case in Florida, and not Ohio where the alleged crime, all the witnesses, and all the evidence is, is because the child protection laws are more in their favor in Florida. If a person is genuinely concerned for Rifqa’s safety, as I am, her safety in Florida no different than her safety in Ohio.


Further, if Pamela truly believed that my statement was dangerous why would she post it? She took the quote from a small time writer with an average of 200-300 hits per article out in California, and posted it on her site, which gets thousands of hits, specifically from people following the case in Ohio and Florida. It makes no sense. What she has done is revealed herself and her priorities. Clearly she is more concerned with her narrative about Islam and Muslims than the Truth, or the actual safety of the girl.


It never occurred to me that the statement might be dangerous, and I honestly don't think it is. I was making a point about security theater. I have taken a stance against the punishment for apostasy, in favor of Rifqa’s emancipation, against collective guilt, and for presumed innocence for all parties. If Pamela had done any investigation she would have discovered this instantly.


Some have asked me to edit the article, but I will not. I'm sure Pamela has already taken a screen shot, and if I remove it now she will just publish the screen shot, putting more eyes on this statement she deems so dangerous. But for now, I'm not sweating it. I will continue to espouse what I believe to be True, though they dislike it. I will not be intimidated by her, or the threats of her cronies.


I have decided that the best course of action is to collected the contact information for the relevant authorities which Pamela advises her readers to report me to, and inform them how and where I came across this address so they can remove it if they feel it compromises her security in any way. I leave it in the capable hand of those security agencies.


I'm relatively certain that when the gag order comes off the police reports this will all blow over. And if it doesn't, I will certainly eat my words, and stand on which ever side protects the well being of the girl.

Ohio judge will address two Rifqa Bary cases in late October

An Ohio judge will address two cases involving teen runaway Fathima Rifqa Bary at a hearing in late October, Rifqa's Ohio lawyer told the Orlando Sentinel today.



A court in Columbus was supposed to take up one of the matters involving Rifqa today, but a magistrate judge decided Monday to set both cases -- a criminal case and a dependency case -- for a hearing Oct. 27, said Ohio lawyer Kort W. Gatterdam.


Gatterdam is representing Rifqa in the criminal matter. That case was prompted by a filing by Rifqa's father, Mohamed Bary, asking a judge to declare his daughter incorrigible for repeatedly being disobedient.


Gatterdam said he filed a motion to dismiss that case this morning.


In the mean time, Rifqa, 17, remains in Florida.


A hearing in Orange County juvenile court Monday brought more questions about her case than resolutions.


Orange Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson did nothing to change the custody of the teen, who has been living with a foster family in Central Florida since August.


In lieu of the Ohio legal developments, Dawson said he planned to talk to an Ohio judge to find out if there is a legitimate custody action in that state.


If so, Dawson would need to determine if and how long Florida's emergency jurisdiction should remain.


Rifqa made national headlines when she ran away from her home near Columbus, Ohio, took a bus to Central Florida and sought shelter with pastors Blake and Beverly Lorenz in July. She spent more than two weeks with the family until Aug. 10 when she was placed into state foster care, where she remains.


The teen said she feared her Muslim family would harm or kill her because of her conversion to Christianity.


Rifqa's family has denied any wrongdoing, and investigators in Ohio and Florida have not found evidence supporting Rifqa's claims.


In Orange County court Monday, Rifqa's Guardian Ad Litem, Krista Bartholomew, said she has "grave concerns" that the Ohio case would be dismissed as soon as Rifqa is sent back there.


Roger Weeden, the attorney for Aysha Bary, said the Ohio court has accepted jurisdiction and argued that all of the witnesses in Rifqa's case, from relatives to teachers, are there.
 
Rifqa's Florida case is set for mediation Oct. 9. Another proceeding in juvenile court is Oct. 13.



Amy L. Edwards can be reached at aledwards@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5735. Sarah Lundy can be reached at slundy@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-6218.


Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel

Christian attorney: Why I think Rifqa Bary's mother is in the right...

By Craig McCarthy, Special to the St. Petersburg Times

In Print: Sunday, September 20, 2009

Editor's note: Craig McCarthy, a private attorney in Orlando specializing in juvenile courts, was the court-appointed attorney for Rifqa Bary's mother from Aug. 10 until Sept. 3. Rifqa Bary, a 17-year-old Christian convert who fled Ohio for Orlando, has claimed she'll be killed if sent back to her Muslim parents. Last week, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found no credible reason to believe that. At a Monday hearing, her parents' attorneys plan to argue that the case should be dismissed in Florida and sent back to Ohio.

Rifqa Bary smiles at supporters in the crowd in an Orlando courtroom earlier this month. She says she fears for her life if she is to be sent back home.

The objective facts of the Rifqa Bary case, viewed with a minimum of passion and maximum wisdom and discernment, should matter, to Christians in particular.


I am writing now because a report by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been released addressing the claims of Rifqa Bary that her parents would allegedly kill her because she has converted from Islam to Christianity. The report provides additional documentation of things I have known for some weeks but have not until now been at liberty to say.


It will astonish many fellow conservatives as well as many on the left to learn that I, an evangelical Christian, have vigorously defended Rifqa Bary's mother in court. And I believe that my former client's cause is just.


From the beginning of this case until earlier this month, I was the attorney for Aysha Risana Bary, Rifqa's mother. I hope it comes across as nothing but a simple fact when I say this to you: I know more about what is really going on in this case than you do — and those of us who are Christians and conservatives ought to be interested in the facts behind controversial stories.


I found the Lord and became born again at the age of 5 and was raised in an evangelical tradition and environment. With the exception of my live appearance on Fox News Channel's Fox and Friends last month, I have made my faith as a Christian clear to every journalist who has interviewed me about this case.



I am an attorney who has been involved with probably close to a thousand cases involving child abuse and neglect, both on the side of the state and on the side of parents who have had the state dismantle their families. (A little aside: I almost lost my job way back for trying to save Terri Schiavo while I was a Department of Children and Families attorney — I was critical of Attorney General Charlie Crist in that case then and am critical of Gov. Charlie Crist in this case now.)


Bottom line, I am a Christian attorney who believes in working to advance the cause of Christ while I'm here in this fallen world.


And I also believe that many Christian conservatives have allowed themselves to adopt a narrative and thus reach conclusions about the Rifqa Bary case prematurely, just as we accuse the mainstream media of sticking to their preferred narratives instead of squaring their passions with reality.


Early on, I all but pleaded with Christians to hit the pause button and wait for more investigation and facts. The implications of getting this wrong have pained me greatly. Now to the facts.



On the morning of Aug. 10, I was working at the juvenile courthouse in Orange County. I observed people loudly making threats to bring in the media and the governor about some matter to be heard that day. Something immediately seemed "off" about some of the personalities in this case (and by that I do not mean the child herself).


Later that day, I was appointed to the case to defend Rifqa's mom. This was not purely by chance. As the person in my county who is routinely appointed to serve as an attorney ad litem to speak for children in foster care, I had been asked to stick around. It was anticipated that I might very well become Rifqa's attorney.


When the attorney who had at first entered an appearance on behalf of Pastor Blake Lorenz later changed her position and declared that she in fact represented the child Rifqa, however, I was given the task of representing one of the parents in the case. It's inside baseball for most readers, but I was immediately struck by the strangeness of Lorenz's attorney spontaneously declaring an attorney-client relationship with the child in open court that hadn't existed the moment before.


That sense of strangeness remains relevant given a recent motion to clarify the roles of Rifqa's four attorneys filed by DCF. In any event, I took the case on behalf of Rifqa's mom and started digging, knowing from the beginning that the case had implications for people of my Christian faith and being determined to get it right.


By Aug. 12, I already had solid documentation that at least one thing circulating in the media and on blogs was flat wrong: that the parents had not reported the child missing for 10 days. Not long after, I was able to nail down another misreported "fact," that the child's note left to her parents had not been given to police. Neither of those things are true.


Why are those relatively mundane facts important? They are important because the person reporting them couldn't possibly know those things, yet so-called adults surrounding Rifqa eagerly passed those things on to media without analysis, one imagines, because they served to paint the child's parents in a bad light.


Knowing that the key facts first presented in Orlando were just plain wrong, and almost inexplicably wrong given that neither claim could possibly be known to anyone in Florida, I continued with my sense that something was "off" here, and kept digging.


I was annoyed as a Christian, as an officer of the court and as a litigator (in that order) that many with whom I agree on many issues were so willing to disregard the notion that a parent has the right in this country to raise and influence a child without governmental interference, unless there is evidence of abuse or neglect that is credible and not based on stereotypes or based on the beliefs or actions of what people who are not the parents might think, feel or do.


Consider this: A minor goes missing; an Amber Alert is issued; law enforcement officials develop information; that information brings police to a lead; that lead actually has knowledge of where the child is; despite the fact that the lead initially denies his knowledge of where the child is, police are able to put that together with a call to the National Center for Missing and Endangered Children, and then they find the missing child. … Yet the response of certain people involved with this case is to be outraged that the police did their jobs. Something is "off."


Then came the FDLE report executive summary. It's out there now. It confirms things I already knew. When Mohamed Bary personally showed me photographs of his daughter in a cheerleader outfit when we met for the second time on Aug. 21 (he had driven from Ohio to Florida twice to attend court hearings), I knew that claims that he had no idea that his child was a Westernized and normal high school student were nonsense.


Reading the FDLE report, I now have confirmation of several things I'd developed information about. I am no longer involved with this case as an attorney. It would be improper by my writing to interfere with the Barys' new attorneys and how they want to proceed. Suffice it to say that a growing list of otherwise uninterested people would have to be lying in order for what you think is true about this case to be true.


To my Christian readers I say that most of you likely had a heartfelt desire to protect a new convert to our faith. I can't fault you there. Quite frankly I am happy that the child knows Jesus, but that is a personal feeling and not relevant to my previous job of defending these parents from the power of the state to take their family apart.


Please recognize that the Lord is not so powerless as to need people to hide information, to embellish facts, or to give false witness in order to advance Christ's kingdom. You homeschoolers in particular ought to pause and weigh the power of the state to take your child into foster care against your feelings on this case and whether or not you would wish to be afforded a competent defense should religious biases be used against you some day.


To any readers who may be of the People for the American Way variety who blog about the hypocrisy of Christians, I simply present myself, an evangelical Christian who believes in facts and law and has extended himself far out on a limb before his peers on behalf of Rifqa's mother.


To any readers who may be Muslim, do not allow your reading of certain blogs to taint your feelings toward your Christian neighbors.


And to Rifqa, one year younger than my older child, I say that as a father and as a Christian, and as your mother's former attorney, I care about you and have since Aug. 10. God bless you, and I believe that all things will work together for good.

Craig McCarthy, a graduate of West Point and Florida State Law School, was the court-appointed attorney for Rifqa Bary's mother for the first several weeks of this case.

Her Personal Writings Show She Wanted to be a Prophet

Fathima Rifqa Bary Update: Her Personal Writings Show She Wanted to be a Prophet


Posted on 17 September 2009 by Cobbler


Fathima Rifqa Bary


This case gets stranger by the day as more and more is revealed about the facts surrounding what actually happened.


Fathima Rifqa Bary claimed under the arm of an Evangelical pastor that her father wanted to kill her; according to new reports, it is now clear that she also secretly fancied herself as a prophet a la Esther in the Bible. Now as kooky as this seems to most of us, in this country we have religious freedom as well as freedom of expression. Rifqa is welcome to join the long line of self-declared prophets that routinely pop up in this country, and we have a right to dismiss her as a brainwashed zealot. But when as a consequence of her new found zeal, she accuses, or is manipulated into accusing, another person of physically harming her and threatening her life then it becomes a matter of public concern and a matter for the realm of law and order. As has been pointed out before, in both of those realms, Rifqa’s claims have been not been found to hold water.


Interestingly, all the bloggers who have been in a frenzy over this case, attempting to prove Islam evil, and her family as medieval monsters by manipulating Rifqa into their coveted poster girl for “victim of Islam” have been discredited as they have had to turn to blatant lies to cover up their shameful attempt to destroy a family, but more on that later. Now, they have the extra egg on their face having to explain their enlightened convert’s outrageous claims of prophethood.


(We at LW think that Rifqa should not be demonized, glorified, apostasized, or prophecized — we think she is just another deeply troubled teen in sore need of professional help and hope she gets it. Shame on the Florida wackos and the Spencers and the Gellers who are exploiting her predicament for their own apocalyptic gutter causes.)

Fathima Rifqa Bary: Rifqa’s Personal Writings Indicate She Wants to be a Prophet


By Rene Stutzman and Amy L. Edwards


A Muslim girl who gave her heart to Jesus and then ran away to Christian evangelists in Orlando is not just any Christian. She is driven to save souls and prays that God will make her a prophet.


That’s according to writings she left behind when she fled.


“Lord is preparing me and He has me hidden … until the time is right,” Fathima Rifqa Bary wrote in a computer entry obtained by the Orlando Sentinel. “I am called to the nations. Send me to the deepest darkest places into the pagan land.”


Rifqa, 17, lives with a foster family in the Orlando area. She fled here, she insists, because her father threatened to kill her for abandoning Islam.


There’s no evidence of that, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and child-welfare officials in Columbus, but her claim and her wrenching, tearful YouTube video have prompted a firestorm of response. Thousands of people have weighed in, most insisting that if Florida officials send her back to Ohio, she’ll face certain death.


After Rifqa disappeared July 19, family members searched for clues about why she left. They found a computer flash drive and were stunned by what they read.


Contents of the flash drive were given by her father, Mohamed Bary, to the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Columbus, which shared parts of it with the Sentinel. Bary authorized publication.


Facebook preaching


The writings reveal a young woman who has embraced fundamentalist Christianity, who has stood outside an abortion clinic, duct tape across her mouth, alongside other protesters, and who has dreamed about Armageddon.


She must convert her family to Christianity, she wrote, including her older brother, Rilvan, 18, who worships “demonic music.” She must approach strangers and talk about Jesus. She saved a list of tips on how to do that:


“Do NOT be sneaky,” she wrote. “Sit down … get to know them … [Ask] would you mind for 5min if I share the gospel with you.”


She compared herself to the Old Testament heroine Esther and wrote out or saved religious pep talks.


“What does it take to be a prophet?” she wrote. “If I am a friend of God I can be prophetic. … You have to want it. Everyday pray for prophesy.”


Also on the flash drive are 250 pages of Facebook preaching and blogging by a young Columbus evangelist, Brian Michael Williams, 23, a former Ohio State University sociology student and Rifqa’s religious mentor, according to Bary.


Those are the writings Bary said troubled him most.


Williams prays with people by “laying my hands on the [computer] monitor and prophesying,” Williams wrote. He calls Planned Parenthood’s founder a racist Nazi, does not believe in evolution, speaks in tongues and criticizes mainstream Christians as following a “demonic doctrine” for being spiritually lethargic and failing to evangelize.


Williams baptized Rifqa in a creek near her home in June, he said, and helped her run away — unwittingly, he insists — by driving her to the Greyhound bus station in downtown Columbus.


To Rifqa’s father, Williams is a Christian extremist who turned Rifqa against her family and put lies in her head.


‘An inspiration to me’


Williams said that’s not true. Rifqa, he said, is the one who convinced him that because her father was a Muslim, Bary must kill her to preserve the family’s honor.


“I really appreciate Rifqa’s courage, and she’s been an inspiration to me,” Williams said in a phone interview.


Rifqa’s attorney, John Stemberger, and her guardian ad litem, Krista Bartholomew, were prohibited from commenting on the writings because of a gag order issued by Orange Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson.


In the past week, Rifqa’s parents have launched a new strategy to get their daughter returned to Ohio and placed in its foster-care system. There are now two juvenile-court cases pending in Columbus. Last week, her father filed one, asking a judge to declare his daughter incorrigible for repeatedly being disobedient.


Someone else on Monday filed a separate petition naming Rifqa, something that could give a Franklin County judge the authority to determine where and with whom she lives. The Franklin County, Ohio, Clerk of Courts Office would not identify the petitioner.


Amy L. Edwards of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Rene Stutzman can be reached at 407-650-6394 or rstutzman@orlandosentinel.com.


Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel

1 Comments For This Post


James Says:


September 18th, 2009 at 7:58 pm


“We at LW think that Rifqa should not be demonized, glorified, apostasized, or prophecized — we think she is just another deeply troubled teen in sore need of professional help and hope she gets it. Shame on the Florida wackos and the Spencers and the Gellers who are exploiting her predicament for their own apocalyptic gutter causes”

I wholeheartedly agree and I hope everyone goes easy on her. The teenage years are tough. I hope she gets the help she needs. Shame on people who jumped to conclusions on a complicated story for their own polemical purposes.

Courtesy: http://www.loonwatch.com/2009/09/fathima-rifqa-bary-update-her-personal-writings-show-she-wanted-to-be-a-prophet/

Ohio Governor Says Send Rifqa Bary Back By Rene Stutzman, Sentinel Staff Writer

2:28 p.m. EDT, September 11, 2009


Gov. Ted Strickland's office says Ohio officials can protect Fathima Rifqa Bary, who ran away from her Muslim parents to Christian evangelists in Orlando


The office of Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has issued a statement, saying the teenage girl who ran away from her Muslim home in Columbus, Ohio, to evangelical Christians in Orlando, should be returned.



"Child welfare agencies and authorities in Ohio and Franklin County are fully capable of providing for the security and well-being of Ohio's children," said the statement. "The governor believes this is a family matter and therefore would most appropriately be handled here in Ohio with the assistance of the child welfare and foster care system."


Fathima Rifqa Bary, 17, is currently living with a foster family in the Orlando area. She fled Columbus aboard a Greyhound bus in July, saying her father had threatened to kill her because she had abandoned his faith -- Islam -- and become a Christian.


Her father, Mohamed Bary, a jeweler and Amway distributor, says that never happened. A Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation supports his claim. So does Franklin County Children's Services, the child welfare agency serving Columbus.


Amanda Wurst, a spokeswoman for Strickland, who is an ordained Methodist minister, first issued the statement yesterday. It puts Strickland at odds with Florida's Gov. Charlie Crist.


Three weeks ago, Crist issued a statement, saying he was grateful for a decision by Orange Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson to keep Rifqa in Florida.


Earlier that day, Crist had sent two powerful figures - Rob Wheeler, his top lawyer; and George Sheldon, secretary for the Florida Department of Children and Families – to a hearing at which the judge ruled that Rifqa should stay in Florida, at least temporarily.


"We'll continue to fight to protect Rifqa's safety and wellbeing as we move forward," said Crist in his statement.


Rifqa's story has set off a firestorm of reaction, especially among evangelical Christians. Crist's office reported today that it had received more than 10,000 pieces of e-mail about it.


Wurst said the Ohio governor's office has received more than 400 calls, e-mails and letters about the issue.


Many people have said they're sure Rifqa will be killed if she's returned to Ohio, if not by her father then by Columbus-area Muslims who believe she's dishonored them.


Columbus-area law enforcement officials say there's no evidence to support that claim, and Strickland's office said the same thing.


"We have no reason to believe that she would be unsafe in Ohio," according to his statement.


Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentine

Rifqa Bary update--Parents File Case In Ohio To Try To Get Her Back by Lydia McGrew

Rifqa Bary's parents have filed a claim against her in Ohio stating that she is an "incorrigible minor" in an attempt to return jurisdiction--and more importantly, Rifqa herself--to Ohio. Judge Dawson in Florida has thus far claimed his court has jurisdiction on the grounds that no court in Ohio claims jurisdiction. This could change all that.


An "incorrigible minor" claim is, from what I've been able to glean, a claim on the part of parents that they cannot control their own child and need the help of the state to do so. Some of the actions that can support such a claim are refusing to obey "reasonable" parental orders, repeatedly running away, being truant, or using drugs or alcohol. Obviously, several of these don't apply to Rifqa, and she has run away only once. Of course, her parents have in one sense "lost control" of her, since she escaped from them! But when the juvenile claims abuse and danger from the parents, there must be (I assume) some mechanism for the court to consider these counterclaims rather than simply returning the child to the parents. The courts can order any number of things if a child is found to be an "incorrigible minor," from house arrest (particularly bad in this case) to foster care. (Unfortunately, I did not keep the most useful link I found on the definition of an "incorrigible minor.")


Commentators here and here at Atlas Shrugs seem to be under the impression that Rifqa will be returned to Ohio but not to her parents. Moreover, this commentator indicate that an "incorrigible minor" claim can be met by a counterclaim for emancipation by Rifqa. I had previously been under the impression that Ohio does not permit emancipation claims, but according to this commentator, what it does not permit is only spontaneous emancipation filings by minors. A minor can, however, try to be emancipated in response to an "incorrigible minor" claim. But is Rifqa financially independent? Would her lack of financial independence scotch an emancipation claim?


More to the point, this article from the Orlando Sentinel, Sept. 2, claims that "Ohio child welfare officials already have concluded it is safe for Rifqa to return. They want to place the girl in therapy and reunite her with her family." This doesn't sound like it supports the positive talk about the responsible and serious actions to be expected from the Ohio authorities. Several news stories have said that Rifqa's parents have consented for her to be put in foster care in Ohio, but not all have added that this is "for at least thirty days." If the Ohio authorities send her back to her parents after thirty days rather than extending the foster care, she could simply be spirited out of the country, a result all the more likely as it appears she is presently here illegally. (That is, of course, not her fault--so are her parents, by the way.)


All of these considerations are, of course, in addition to concerns about her increased danger if she is returned to Ohio at all, even to foster care.


September 14--Pamela Geller at Atlas reports that Rifqa's Sept. 29 hearing date in Florida has been postponed. I am a pessimist by nature and am concerned that this may indicate Florida's willingness to relinquish jurisdiction to Ohio.


Courtesy of: http://www.whatswrongwiththeworld.net/2009/09/rifqa_bary_updateparents_file.html

The Rifqa Bary FDLE Report

This is the summary of the investigation that was done by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement regarding the alleged claim by Rifqa Bary that her life was in danger in the state of Ohio. Following link gives the report.



http://media.myfoxorlando.com/documents/FDLE_RifqaBary.pdf

The Christian Runaway By Arian Campo-Flores | Newsweek Web Exclusive

Updated: 6:26 p.m. ET Sep 9, 2009



High-school student Rifqa Bary says her conversion to Christianity threatened her life. Her Muslim parents say they just want their daughter back—no matter what faith she practices.

Family torn apart: Aysha and Mohamed Bary (left) speak to reporters in Columbus, Ohio, on Aug. 13. Rifqa Bary gets a hug from her caseworker Maxine Kisimbi (right) during a hearing in Orlando on Sept. 3.

Brian Williams wasn't sure what to make of his young friend's stories. He'd met Rifqa Bary, a high-school student from Gahanna, Ohio, at a prayer house at Ohio State University late last year. Intensely devout and deeply inquisitive, she recounted that she came from a Muslim family but had converted to Christianity. This had enraged her parents, who threatened her with violence, she said. She had to hide her faith, conceal her Bible, and sneak away to attend church. According to Williams, a nondenominational minister, she researched the persecution of Christians around the world obsessively and lived in constant fear that her parents would kill her for apostasy. At first "I didn't believe her, to be honest," says Williams. "Maybe she's just young and overemotional," he thought.

But Bary spoke with such conviction that she eventually convinced Williams. And when she ran away from home and fled to Orlando in July, claiming she was in danger of falling victim to an "honor killing," it seemed like all the more reason to trust that she was telling the truth. Why else would she uproot her life that way? Nevertheless, three separate investigations—two by authorities in Ohio and one by law enforcement in Florida—have found no reason to believe that her allegations are true or her life is imperiled. Her parents vehemently deny all the accusations she has made against them and say they have no issue with her being a Christian. Yet Bary continues to maintain that if she's returned to Ohio, she'll be murdered.


The dispute is now the subject of a rancorous legal battle in Florida family court. It's up to a judge to sort through the facts and determine what's best for Bary, 17, who's living with a foster family in Orlando. But that won't be easy. Her case has spilled far beyond the courtroom walls and escalated into a virulent religious clash. She's being represented by John Stemberger, a conservative Christian lawyer who was involved in the battle over Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman kept alive with a feeding tube until it was disconnected in 2005. He and various right-wing groups have unleashed a barrage of allegations against Bary's parents and a mosque they attend in Columbus, Ohio. Yet as Krista Bartholomew, Bary's guardian ad litem (appointed by the court to offer guidance on the girl's best interests), said in a hearing last Thursday, "This is not a holy war. This is a case about a frightened little girl and a broken family."


Mohamed and Aysha Bary left Sri Lanka in 2000 with their two kids, Rifqa and an older brother, and moved to New York (their third child, a boy, was born in the United States). The reason: concern about Rifqa's well-being. As a child, she'd fallen on a toy airplane that pierced her right eye. Doctors in Sri Lanka wanted to remove the eye, prompting Mohamed to relocate the whole family so Rifqa could obtain better medical treatment. In the end, her eye was spared, though she can't see out of it. Then, in 2004, Mohamed moved the family again, this time to seek a better public education for the kids. He settled on the Columbus area, which had highly ranked schools. At New Albany High School, Rifqa excelled. She maintained a 3.5 grade-point average and became a member of the cheerleading squad. Mohamed "is so proud of his children," says Gary Abbott, his closest friend in the U.S. (and a Christian). "He values them more than his own life."



Soon after arriving in Ohio, Rifqa began exploring Christianity. (Though the Barys raised their kids Muslim, Mohamed says the family didn't attend mosque regularly, due to his travel schedule as a gem dealer.) According to Jamal Jivanjee, a Muslim-to-Christian convert who later befriended Rifqa (and now lives in Nashville), she first learned about Jesus Christ from a girl in junior high who shared Scripture with her. The idea that "you could have a relationship with God was a very attractive concept to her," says Jivanjee. In 2005, Rifqa became a Christian at Korean United Methodist Church in Columbus, according to an affidavit filed by her lawyer. With time, she became more fervent about her beliefs. Williams says she regularly attended prayer groups and participated in pro-life gatherings at abortion clinics. She also connected with fellow believers online, through religious groups like the United States of Prayer on Facebook. "The Internet became her church," says Williams, who calls Bary "by far the most passionate Christian I think I've ever met."


Bary's claims about her parents' hostility to her new religion date back at least a year. In an August 2008 e-mail to Jivanjee, she described her parents as "very devoted Muslims" and wrote that after accepting Jesus at the age of 13, "of course I couldn't tell them. Where would I live and go?" Noting that Jivanjee was also a convert, she asked, "How were you able to handle the persecution?" In her affidavit, Bary contends that her father forced her to attend youth gatherings every Saturday at the Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Dublin, Ohio (though the center says its records show she attended only three classes there in 2007). Mohamed, a polite, mild-mannered man who seems deeply pained by the acrimony, responds that all this is nonsense. He and his wife learned that Rifqa considered herself a Christian when she was 14, he says, and though they would have preferred she remain Muslim, "we did not make a big fuss about it." Plus, he points out, if they were indeed such fanatics, why would they have let their daughter prance around as a cheerleader?


Mohamed says Rifqa's behavior began to change more markedly at the beginning of this summer. She became withdrawn, barely speaking to him when they drove places together. She rejected the company of her little brother, with whom she'd always been affectionate. She would stay up late, reading her Bible on the balcony. Aysha also found books in the girl's room that she found troubling, like Is the Injeel Corrupted? (Its author, Fouad Masri, believes that "radical Islam is a reflection of a spiritual thirst that can only be quenched through the teachings and the life of Christ," according to one of his press releases.) Moreover, Rifqa was constantly on Facebook, interacting with people her parents had no clue about. "We were worried," says Mohamed.


Rifqa's religious zeal seems to have intensified during this period. She asked Williams, who was licensed at the nondenominational All Nations Church earlier this year, to baptize her, and he agreed. So one afternoon in late June, he says, they held a ceremony at Hoover Dam Recreation Area in Columbus that was attended by a few dozen of her friends and acquaintances. Bary and Williams waded into the lake, and she shared testimony about how she came to know Jesus and prayed that her family would become Christians as well. Then she was immersed.



Around this time, according to Williams, Bary became convinced that she had to prepare to flee. He says she reached out to folks on Facebook and heard back from at least six or seven who volunteered to take her in. The final impetus for her escape apparently came from two episodes she recounts in her affidavit. First, she maintains that her father confronted her about her Christianity. "If you have this Jesus in your heart, you are dead to me!" she says he yelled at her. "I will kill you!" (Mohamed emphatically denies this.) Then, she alleges, her mother discovered a Christian book in her bedroom, burst into tears, and told Rifqa she would "have to be sent back to Sri Lanka to be dealt with." (Mohamed says Aysha reprimanded the girl for coming home late one night and made a comment along the lines of "We came here for your education. If it goes on like this, we'll all have to go back to Sri Lanka.") Around July 17 or 18, Jivanjee received an e-mail from Bary. "The day has come that I dreaded," she wrote. "I'm ready to die for my faith."


Early on the morning of July 19, Bary took off. According to her subsequent account to Williams, she managed to hitch a ride to a church from a woman she didn't know and spent all day praying there. Then someone drove her to a friend's house, and eventually she was taken to a Greyhound station. She boarded a bus, and some 30 hours later, on July 22, she arrived in Orlando, where Blake and Beverly Lorenz live. Though Bary had never met the couple—both pastors of the evangelical Global Revolution Church—Beverly was one of the people she had communicated with on Facebook. (The Lorenzes declined an interview request.)


Bary's parents, who knew none of this, became frantic when they discovered their daughter was gone. They filed a missing-persons report with Columbus police and reached out to everyone they could think of. Police say the Barys cooperated fully with their investigation and seemed like loving parents who were worried sick. Searching among Rifqa's personal items, the Barys found a flash drive filled with spiritual writings by Williams. He'd already spoken to the family and told them he didn't know where Rifqa was. But on Aug. 5—more than two weeks after the girl went missing—Columbus police interviewed him by phone (he was now living in Kansas City, Mo.). He says they threatened to arrest him if Bary didn't appear in the next 24 hours. Immediately after that call, he says, Kansas City police went to his home looking for the girl. Alarmed, Williams says he called and e-mailed all the people he knew Bary had been in touch with, including Blake Lorenz, who's a Facebook friend of his.


The Lorenzes had been housing Bary the whole time, even though it's a misdemeanor in Florida to shelter an unmarried minor for more than 24 hours (the Florida Department of Law Enforcement won't say whether it's investigating the couple). Their attorney, Mat Staver, says they consulted various agencies and nonprofits regarding how to handle Bary's situation. They also called the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) several times, though they didn't provide the specifics of her case until Aug. 6 (the day after Williams contacted Blake Lorenz). On Aug. 7, Orlando police picked up Bary, and soon she was in DCF custody. In a procedural error, however, the agency allowed the girl to return to the Lorenz home for three days before moving her to a licensed foster family. During that time, the couple allowed a local TV news crew to tape an interview with Bary that soon appeared on YouTube. Distraught and at times hysterical, the girl alleged that her parents had threatened to commit an honor killing against her. "If they love God more than me, they have to do this," she said. "I'm fighting for my life." (Muslim scholars say that in Islam, there's no such thing as an honor killing for apostasy.)


Once Bary's case became public, numerous Christian conservatives fanned the flames. "This conflict between Islam and Christianity is going to grow greater," said Blake Lorenz, according to the St. Petersburg Times. "This conflict between good and evil is going to grow greater." Stemberger, Bary's lawyer, filed a 33-page memorandum in her case that's filled with innuendo and provocative allegations against the Noor Center, the mosque that the Barys occasionally attend (on a conference call with reporters, Stemberger insisted that the accusations have been "documented extensively"). Among them: that the center is connected to an FBI terror probe (which the FBI denies) and that its CEO has connections to the Muslim Brotherhood (which, along with every other allegation, the Noor Center denies). The mosque is actually regarded as mainstream and regularly hosts interfaith events. "Unfortunately, hate groups appear to be using this family matter as an opportunity to attack the Muslim community and Islamic organizations in order to further their religious and political goals," the center said in a statement.


The court proceedings have been no less combative. At an arraignment last week, the Barys formally denied the allegations made against them. During the proceedings, eight attorneys representing various parties—Rifqa, her parents, and DCF among them—clashed repeatedly, prompting Rifqa to cry at one point. The judge overseeing the case, Daniel Dawson, has ordered the parties into mediation, but it's clear that is unlikely to get anywhere. As a result, the case will probably go to trial (a pretrial hearing is scheduled for Sept. 29), leaving it up to Dawson to decide whether Rifqa will remain in Florida—which she says she wants—or be reunited with her parents. The Barys have volunteered to participate in family counseling with Franklin County Children Services in Ohio, and they agreed to let Rifqa stay with a foster family there in the meantime. But for now, the state of Florida has custody of her. "It's very hard for us to believe that it has gone so far," says Mohamed. "We love her; we want her to come back. She can be a Christian, that's not a problem."

Courtesy: http://www.newsweek.com/id/215100/page/1

OF FACEBOOK, FAITH AND A RUNAWAY TEEN By MICHAEL KRUSE, TIMES STAFF WRITER, ORLANDO

Copyright 2009 Times Publishing Company - All Rights Reserved

St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
September 8, 2009 Tuesday
0 South Pinellas Edition

NATIONAL; Pg. 1A

 As evangelicals spread their message via the Internet, they reach folks like Rifqa Bary.

She lived in Central Ohio, and she fled to Central Florida, but the story of Rifqa Bary didn't start in either place. It started on Facebook.

Bary, 17, ran away from home in July because she believes her Muslim family has to kill her because of her conversion to Christianity. She got on a bus and for 16 days lived in the home of evangelical pastors Blake and Beverly Lorenz of Global Revolution Church after she had gotten to know them through a Facebook prayer group.

The Internet has made meeting more people in more places faster and easier than ever before, and churches are taking advantage. A recent Georgetown University study said 87 percent of religious organizations use the Internet to attract new members. Evangelical Christians, experts say, are particularly good at using social networking sites as powerful tools to proselytize.

Global Revolution isless than a year old and meets in a movie theater in a mall, but it still can have a life-altering impact on a teenage girl and her family more than 1,000 miles away.

"Facebook," Beverly Lorenz said last month in an interview, "is part of my ministry."

"Facebook," Mohamed Bary, the girl's father, said last week, "that was the problem. Not Facebook, but the people who were on who influenced her."

"Evangelicals are aggressively pursuing souls online," said Lee Rainie, the director of the nonpartisan Pew Internet and American Life Project.

"This is pretty deeply embedded in the evangelical communities," he said. "They see it as their great cause: Go ye into all the world."
- - -
Beverly Lorenz, 51, exchanged "seven or eight" Facebook messages with Bary, 16 at the time, this spring and this summer. They had a wee-hours phone call in early July.

The girl showed up at their home late on July 21.

Beverly Lorenz is third generation in the church. Her father was a pastor. So was her grandfather.

She met Blake Lorenz at her father's church. They've been married almost 30 years.

Blake Lorenz, 53, bills himself as a former professional baseball player turned longtime pastor. He's a 1977 graduate of Rollins College in Winter Park and for a while was the school's career leader in pitching wins. He played one summer in the low minor leagues in the Chicago Cubs' organization. He pitched one inning, hit two home runs, and was released.

He felt low and lost until January 1980, he said, when he "met Jesus Christ" in his bedroom.

He was the pastor at Pine Castle United Methodist Church in Orlando for 24 years before he left last fall to start the Global Revolution Church across town. Global Revolution gets together in Theater 10 at the megaplex at Festival Bay. A recent Sunday morning service started with a booming movie-trailer voice: "Buckle up and hold on!"

"Revolution," says the church's Web site, globalrevolutionchurch.org, "means a sudden and radical change. We are about changing our culture."
- - -
The first call Blake Lorenz made to the Department of Children and Families was on July 29. He didn't give his name, and he didn't give Rifqa Bary's name, either, he said, because they told him the girl probably would be taken home.

Meanwhile, up in Columbus, the police were trying to find Bary. Her cell phone was off, so they couldn't track her signal - but her dad paid her bill, so he had access to her call log. He gave it to police.

That led to a name: Brian M. Williams. He's a 2008 Ohio State grad, an aspiring pastor, and was a Facebook friend of Bary and Blake Lorenz. He moved recently from Columbus to Kansas City, Mo., where he was interning at the International House of Prayer, a giant facility in a renovated strip center that the people there call the "missions base" of "a global worship movement."

Columbus police contacted Kansas City police. Kansas City police went to his address. Columbus police talked to Williams on the phone.

Blake Lorenz says he got a call from Williams on Aug. 5. They were here, Williams told Lorenz, looking for Bary.

On Aug. 9, the day before she was put in foster care with a different Christian family, Barywas at the Sunday service at Global Revolution. Blake Lorenz, calling her Anna, talked about her in his sermon.

"How should we live?" he asked his followers. "What choices are we going to make when we begin to get persecuted?

"Anna's been living this out. Anna is a wonderful young woman of God. ... She was a Muslim. Gave her life to Christ. Fell in love with Jesus. She fled for her life.

"The fear we live with," he continued, "is the police were going to show up, take us off, arrest us. ... Oh, that couldn't happen? It happened to the man who baptized her. The police showed up at his apartment in Kansas City, to arrest him, illegally searched his apartment and all the apartments there, looking for her, convinced she was there."

Initially, the sermon was posted on the church's Web site.

The next day the Florida Department of Children and Families decided the Lorenzes now were "not appropriate placement" for Bary.

"Home study," a supervisor wrote, "was approved prior to being informed that the pastor's family was involved with possibly helping the child run away from Ohio."
- - -
Helping.

That could mean a lot of things. Those Facebook messages she exchanged with Beverly Lorenz? The 4 a.m. phone call? The prayers they said together that night?

It could also mean a lot of people. The United States of Prayer, the Facebook group through which Bary met the Lorenzes, has hundreds of members from all over the country.

"The Internet," said Rainie, from the Pew Internet project, "has certainly scrambled the realities of distance and time. Legal authorities are having a new set of challenges. It's a very complicated and not at all settled element of the law now."

Where to look, and how? And who does the looking? Geographical jurisdiction has its limits in a world where geography hardly matters anymore.

Josh McKoy, 20, a Metro State college student in Denver, met Bary through his friend Brian M. Williams and messaged with her on Facebook.

"Brian's known her for a long time," McKoy said over the phone last month. "I don't know how they met but he was a huge help to her. Brian had bought her a Christian book.

"Oftentimes," McKoy said, "he was her transport to church and things like that."

Did Williams have something to do with her bus trip? Did Bary buy her ticket to Orlando?

"We can't confirm that," Columbus police Detective Jerry Cupp said.

Did the Lorenzes buy her bus ticket? They say no.

Who then? They won't say. They're concerned for that person's safety.

"A lot of people helped Rifqa," Blake Lorenz said.

Times news researcher Shirl Kennedy contributed to this report. Michael Kruse can be reached at mkruse@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8751.

Convert Controversy - Susan Candiotti Reports on CNN News

The interview by Susan Candiotti on CNN News.

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2009/09/11/candiotti.runaway.convert.cnn?iref=videosearch

Galle Fort and Ms Rifqa Bary - Sent by : Dr.Reffai

Posted on August 21st, 2009


Authored By Smiling – with roots in Galle Fort.

The controversy of Ms Rifqa Bary’s conversion from Islam to Christianity has been in the news in recent weeks.

To me, it started out as just another attack by the media on topics of a similar nature. With the passage of time, the hype died out, and it was probably going to be just another brick in the wall. Sure, I did wonder who she was; from where she hailed in Sri Lanka; and what was all this commotion about. Many have walked out of the fold of their birthright faiths, and thousands have converted through the years. So what’s the big deal about this girl’s decision to move on, if it was her own choice that is? She has to face her Creator one day, and He alone will judge if her intentions were right and whether her actions are justified, and whether she was coerced unethically by some unscrupulous missionary.

Confused


However, to a viewer such as me, and I am sure there are many who share this perspective, the incidents related by her do not make true sense. I gradually started noticing the inconsistencies in her statements which were blatantly apparent. She didn’t know the right context in using the word “Halaal.” It should have been that she was “Haraam” to her people.


Untruths


Rifqa tried portraying Sri Lanka as an Islamic nation, whereas it comprises of over 70% Buddhists! She was also untruthful in implying that in Sri Lanka honor killings, revenge and putting people into asylums at the drop of a hat, based on religious teachings, are the order of the day. The conniving media have portrayed our nation to be on par with countries or states which practice such atrocities thereby blinding the gullible public in that part of the globe to view things differently as they should. Why this incident has made a great impact on me is that an unassuming relative of mine recently announced that Rifqa Bary, who had her origins in my little home town, hailed from Galle Fort!


Galle Fort:


Galle Fort is a tiny fortress situated about 115-kilometers from Colombo along the Southern coastal belt. Built in the 18th Century by Dutch colonialists, it is a quaint little sleepy village surrounded by a fortress and its inhabitants used to be predominantly Muslim traders.


Muslims


The Fort and its lifestyle are unique and all houses abut each other, and the citizens of this enclosed village are very closely knit and united irrespective of ethnicity. Muslims hailing from Galle Fort are considered very liberated vis-à-vis those living in other townships of the island. The ladies used to be well dressed and fashionable, and most men were very well educated in Christian missionary schools, either academically, professionally, in business or in the many other ways of the world. Their lives always centered on the local community and the mosque, and I am sure no one in the history of the Muslims of Galle Fort, for whatever reason, has ever been subjected to an honor killing.


Womenfolk


Muslim womenfolk hailing from Galle Fort are also considered very liberated. Whilst we have our affiliations to Western culture and lifestyle we surely do not forget our Eastern roots. Most of us, unlike some of the Muslim women in Sri Lanka, do not adorn the veil, but that doesn’t deter us from being good human beings. Muslim women hailing from Galle Fort are, presently, scattered around the world and have stood up and made their names wherever they went. Sure, there have been those rebels who left the fold, both in religion and the Fort itself, and whilst in some cases they were reconciled, in other instances ostracized for life. However, it has not been recorded, in any known history of Galle, of any sort of barbaric behavior as stated by young Miss Bary, now in the U.S.


Traditions


The traditions and customs of the Muslims of Galle Fort have always been unique. Volumes could be written about the people. Their exceptional gourmet food is a culinary art by itself. The laid back lifestyle of the inhabitants coupled by their very broad outlook towards life, has enabled many of its citizens to reach the zenith of their careers and livelihoods both within and outside Sri Lanka. With this rich tapestry woven around us, it is so hard for me to digest the fact that anyone who has an iota of Galle Fort in one’s blood would ever accuse its people of such atrocities.


Miss Bary


You are very young Miss Bary. You do not know what you have accused people of; people whom you left about a decade ago when you were just a tiny tot. I guess you have read too many novels written by lopsided and biased authors in the West where they portray Muslim women as chattels and subjugated citizens.


You do not know what Sri Lanka is, and, in more particular the Galle Fort, where people are just normal human beings much liberated than the rest of the country, or, for that matter, across the South Asian Subcontinent. The people here basically mind their own business, and, of course, if something affects the community as a whole, they unite and stand by and support each other.


No one is going to touch you or hurt you, they will leave you to your own devices and let the Almighty judge you. Many have left Galle as you have; no one compelled them to come back; their families suffered the hurt and then went on about their lives. You, leaving the fold of Islam is your choice. You have to face your demons or your angels, someday. No one on the face of this earth has the right to judge what you have done is right or wrong. They can only comment in general as an opinion or even come forth and advice you according to their beliefs and thoughts. It is up to you to receive that advice objectively and with sincerity of purpose. That is what you have to live with for the rest of your life on the decision you have made, especially if you made it on your own freedom of thought without being subject to any unethical or devious coercion.


Young lady, do not accuse people of things that they have never done nor will ever do. Do not make up stories of things that never happened or didn’t exist in our quaint Galle Fort. My People of the Galle Fort are humane citizens not capable of anything you have accused them unilaterally. Sure, they may advice you to do what they think is right, yet, they will not force down on you what you don’t want to do. They will let you go and let you fly as you choose for yourself.


I cannot say whether you will be welcome back home with open arms or that you will have a smooth landing if you do decide to return. You are free to lead the life and faith you have chosen. That is your right and prerogative. The Muslims of Galle Fort are warm people, proud of their roots and their good human qualities and values, and you have breached that goodness and hurt an entire community in the process. You will have to live with that deed whether you choose to like it or not.


Authored By Smiling – with roots in Galle Fort.

Courtesy of http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2009/08/21/galle-fort-and-ms-rifqa-barrie/

My Thoughts: Rifqa Bary By Eyes for Lies

The Human Lie Detector Blog
Wednesday - August 26, 2009

When I watch Rifqa Bary in the first few seconds of this video, her behavior changes from a happy "Hi" to this supposedly scared young girl. These two behaviors are very contradictory and my first red flag. It's as if Rifqa didn't notice the camera and when she did, she slinks down into an act.

 

When the reporter asks Rifqa what is going on, Rifqa's demeanor changes again. Notice how she immediately looks down as she starts talking, "Well, ah...I'm a Christian and uh, my parents are Muslim, they're extremely devout..."

http://eyesforlies.blogspot.com/2009/08/my-thoughts-rifqa-bary.html

The Rifqa Bary Case Analysis

Here is an analysis of the Rifqa Bary case by one of our readers:

Pastor Blake Lorenz mentions that Rifqa 'secretly' converted to Christianity four years ago. How old was Rifqa when she switched religions...13 or 14 years old. Her disenchantment with Islam began when she was ...12 ? 11? 10 yrs? So, while other girls of her age were busy skipping rope and giggling at boys, Rifqa was full on investigating comparative religions. Or, that the parents were so cruel to her that she had to find solace in some other outlet ..like Christianity. But, cruel parents do not make the effort to take their daughter to eye doctors and allowing her to join choirs and other typical American activities...which led to Rifqa becoming a a cheer-leader. Rifqa's parents were proud of her!

"Her religion..(implying to her conversion to Christianity) was only discovered recently by her father" said Pastor Blake now, Pastor Blake... what do you mean by recently? How many months, or weeks, or days....because recently would mean...something that has happened lately.. a new development. This means that Rifqa's parents ...more so her father because he is supposed to be the one who has threatened to kill Rifqa, was threatening Rifqa in the last few months, weeks , days...?

She went missing for three weeks. Lets take one week before she went 'missing'. Rifqa's father came to know that she was 'chatting' to a group of pastors..... Global Revolutionary Church on facebook. Her father could have remarked that she was 'dead' to them if she hangs around this church group and follow their ways because after all, she a young Muslim girl, and would be highly susceptible to the machinations of this lot. She was an easy pick for this Global Revolution people. There was every chance that Rifqa did not know much about her own religion. The pastors group can pump up the 'glory of Jesus. The only god of redemption and everlasting love' she would be ideal for showcasing the persuasive powers of this Global Revolution Church (GRC). She can be a 'star'. So, did they exhort her to come to this meeting of these pastors? Did they say "there are wonderful things that Rifqa could learn and she would be among "friends" who would love and protect her.


Lets say that after one week of her father getting to learn about this 'facebook' people, Rifqa left for Orlando... Mohamed Bary reported that their daughter was missing. After three weeks she was found with Global Rev.Ch. Blake Lorenz told police that Rifqa said that her parents would not inform police, but the parents did inform and state wide search was on, and the national centre for missing and EXPLOITED CHILDREN were on to it.. and found.. Rifqa Bary.


What happened next.. was seen by the world at large. Media loves a story like this. Iit makes for great 'ratings'. The more hype.. the better the story. More the controversy. The better the 'watch ability' on TV, the net, etc. They knew that the Christians would lap up this episode and would sharpen their swords to thrust at the 'evil' Muslims.


And they knew that this GRC would love the exposure. The story of a teen Muslim turning to Christ. GRC would be known world wide. Now the media would have been licking their lips, exulting in the moment. You'd be so silly to think that the media's intention is to report truth and fairness.. a 'fair' presentation of the 'Rifqa Bary' story would kill the ratings' for TV, the net etc.


Is it possible that they asked Blake Lorenz to 'coach' Rifqa a bit....can she do a 'sensationalizing' of the whole episode? The media could have said.. "look, this stuff is worth millions of dollars of advertising value for your Global Revolutionary Church. are you going to do "something" about it. To cliché, media 'milks it dry' .. a story,.. that erupts and makes it way to the front pages of the newspapers, lead story for TV, net, etc.


The fire... (the hatred, the prejudice, the jealousy, the envy, the fear of tasting defeat).. is dormant.. re-kindle the smoldering logs and get the flame going. So march on soldiers.. Christian...Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Sai Baba.... and keep Islam maligned. Keep the fire of 'hate' against Islam. This is "our" only hope...Let us..( those virulently opposed to Islam) help create organizations like Taliban etc.


So, 'they' are saying... Islam has to be bludgeoned to death...before it overtakes other religions, philosophies, etc. Will media hang on the Rifqa Bary story because there is tremendous ADVERSE feedback on the aspect of "cruel" Islam and their "antiquated" outlook. Yeah! And how about telling a few lies.... remote control through the mouth of Rifqa Bary. Who outside Sri Lanka (because the people living in Sri Lanka can see and find the truth behind false campaigns) would bother to INQUIRE into news reports that say that some young Muslim women are subject to 'honor' killings? A Christian, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, others living outside Sri Lanka would they bother to doubt, if they said..." in the name of Islam, there are HONOR killings every day in Sri Lanka.


So, if someone said.." last month 33 young Muslim women were found dead with their throats cut.. two bodies were found near the Ratmalana Station....there is great chance this would be "talked" about right across the world. A successful..(Cunning, Machiavellian) journalist will write a story .. and mention a fact that is unrelated to the article he/she is writing like the story on Rifqa Bary where they mention.. honor killings in Sri Lanka ...and say that.. " two bodies of young women were found near the Angulana Station".


Yes, two bodies WERE found. But this could have been the bodies of two women of the fishing village, a fisherman spied on his young wife cheating... having sex with another man. So, he killed her in revenge. The husband of the 'killed' woman walked into the other fisherman’s house and killed the fisherman’s wife. So for e.g. Two bodies were found! See how a story can be made up... talk about Rifqa Bary... and end with the' two bodies' story aimed at the 'haters' of Islam. The story would be gobbled up and passed on to all the world.


They would guzzle this story as quickly as they could and would look for more. Yes, and they would get more in the months to come. So the journalist maybe thinking to himself... "thank god.. for Rifqa Bary at last, my career as a journalist is taking off like a formulae 1 racing car. Hallelujah!


Have you noticed that people read and dwell on things THEY LIKE TO READ. They like to believe the things that they like to believe... if YOU like to believe that Islam is evil...you will PICK on the reading materials that say Islam is evil. No amount of statistics and reasoning, and logic and history will move these people to think that Islam is not evil. A journalist working in a non-Muslim environment/country...will have to cater to the LARGE MAJORITY who are inclined to believe ( in their pet prejudices) the things they want to believe!