Maybe I'm the only one that sees that this takes away parental rights when a child converts to Christianity. I'm not sure that they've shown clear danger to the child. (Or maybe they have. Not being on a jury, I can only go with what's in the article.) Do only Christian parents deserve the benefit of the doubt? Because I remember some people trampling the rights of the FLDS people back in the day.
I only know that if it were MY child, I'd want her back. I'd want a last chance to show her that my religion is the right way. How could one howl about parental rights for homeschoolers, but then comment at the end of the story that one hopes that this gets tied up in the courts so that the girl will be 18 (and thus decide for herself!) by the time a decision is made. Let's just intentionally drag this out.
WOW.
What if that were YOUR child, folks? What if you were in a Muslim-dominated land and they took your child away out of "concern" that you might get all upset about your kid's profession of another faith?
Someone's probably going to write that you know what? Some of those fundamentalist type Muslims are strange, and they DID find some creepy things at the FLDS ranch and so... that makes all that happened ok. And I'm probably going to not only disagree, but point out that I remember what the local Baptist church did when the YFZ ranch was raided. They prepared a "shelter" for these people when the authorities tipped them off. They said on TV that it was just to show Christian love to these folks. The church. Colluding with the state.
Do you know what else? I would submit to you that sometimes "Christian love" means calling these other folks up and warning them that these state people are up to no good. Sometimes it means coming up against the "powers that be" and resisting. Ummm... though... this article creeps me out, too:
"Our strategy will be to bleed this corrupt culture dry," it reads. "We will pick off the most intelligent and creative individuals in our society, the individuals who help give credibility to the current regime..."
"Our movement will be entirely destructive, and entirely constructive. We will not try to reform the existing institutions. We only intend to weaken them, and eventually destroy them..."
"We will use guerrilla tactics to undermine the legitimacy of the dominant regime..."
Bleed dry. Pick off. These kinda sound like violent words. So do words like "guerrilla." Yeah, they're followed up with blather about how they're gonna do this with bumper stickers. At first. Second stage of the game? Intimidation tactics.
I suppose there are probably 5 billion other websites like this out there, but forgive me when I express surprise at this language, because I've never seen them before. I'm a conservative Christian and I'd probably exist quite comfortably under a regime like this for about a tenth of a second. I think I'd rather stick with the Obama administration, and that's saying something.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Look Out, Dad!!
My father is the purple dot above the blue weather station. He's juuust outside Milton's evacuation zone. Well! My brother and I jus...
You are NOT alone. I think the Christians who took this girl from her parents were WRONG.
ReplyDeleteWhat's more? I think the raid on the FLDS ranch was wrong, too. I think their theology is perverse and flawed, but to take EVERY child without probable cause was a violation of those folks' rights.
MrsC: I haven't followed Rifka's story closely but it does strike me as unreasonable to expect the child to want to return to a situation where her life is endangered. I don't know about the States but I do know G.B has had problems with their muslim population doing *honour killings* & also returning their daughters to their home of origin forcing them into early arranged marriages in the most primitive conditions. Any dogma, creed or religion that says you must dies for disagreeing with me is *out there* in my opinion. See, I don't think religion is the issue here. Nor are parental rights. I think life is. I've heard too many horror stories to not think Rifka just may have a point about fearing for her life. I've also had personal experiences that I don't wish to discuss quite so publically that make me tend to think Rifka is justified in thinking her life might be in danger. Could be wrong. Sure do hope so but I tend to think Rifka should make the call on this one.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you on the FLDS thing, but I saw a video of this girl crying and saying that her parents, according to their strict Muslim beliefs, would be "required" to kill her if she didn't desert her Christian faith.
ReplyDeleteIs she exaggerating? Has someone else put these ideas in her head? I don't know. I do know that she didn't seem in doubt at all as to what would happen to her if she went back, and like Ganeida, I have heard other stories about these "honor killings". It does happen. Under the circumstances, I think it would be very hard for them to force her to go back against her will.
I think the truth is somewhere in the middle.
ReplyDeleteOn one hand, these parents *did* allow their daughter to be a cheerleader - I'm going to guess that there are not too many observant Muslim cheerleaders simply based on my understanding that the Muslim version of modest dress is a far cry from miniskirts. (And that really is a guess - correct me if I'm wrong.) On the other hand, conversion appears to be something that even a liberal, Americanized, possibly even not-too-observant Muslim could take very seriously.
As far as the Christian influence, it seems clear that she converted in 2007 and reached out herself to the Florida family. I know teenagers make unwise decisions, but if she was posted on Facebook that she was a Christian, she had to know that her parents would find out...so this kinda suggests that she was not in living in great fear up until something happened in 2009.
The Koran does have some severe penalties for converts. But the Bible isn't exactly free of "clobber" passages, either.
I was irritated that the few articles I read harped on how the father "admitted" he would prefer his daughter to be a Muslim. Duh!
Terrorist ties? I have done zero research on that one, but if you researched all the activities I'm involved with, I'm certain you could find some seriously unsavory characters. That said, the fact remains that death threats have been reported. I'm very curious to see whether these death threats came from someone posing as a member of that mosque.
At the end of the day, though, there is evidence - maybe not credible, but that's not the point now - that her life is in danger. Forget the family killing her...I'm very concerned that a non-family member who adheres to the command to kill converts would do just that. Unfortunately, with all the publicity this case is getting, that's a real possibility.
PS - I didn't read the article, but a friend mentioned that a public high school coach in Kentucky took his sports team on a sports-related trip and baptized them all himself. THAT would really concern me as a parent.
I'm with Ganeida.
ReplyDeleteThe father had known for a year that his daughter had converted to Christianity. HE knew she had been reading the Bible. Throughout the course of that entire year, he didn't kill her? She didn't run?
ReplyDeleteAnd I have to admit that the picture of this kid in a typical cheerleading uniform swayed me. This was clearly NOT some extremist Muslim family.
The parents say much of this trouble started when they gave her a laptop and she began connecting with a lot of these folk online. Hmmm...
We CANNOT take the position that it's okay for us as Christians to be okay with someone losing their parental authority because they are Muslim, or Hundu, or whatever.
I have been following this story and there is NO evidence that this child's life is in danger.
I've heard of this situation, but haven't looked into it. But I have talked with kids who come from potentially/allegedly abusive homes and it's tough. What do you tell them? How do you encourage them? How do you counsel them? And what do you do when you're unsure as to the safety of the environment?
ReplyDeleteUgh. It's so hard to determine anything when you don't have solid information. I agree: I wouldn't want my children taken away because of "concern" for them. But if a child were to come to my house saying that he or she didn't feel safe at home... well... we've had people spend the night in those situations. We didn't take them away, but we did welcome them in...
Eh. I don't know enough about this specific situation.
~Luke
I'm one that generally sides with parental rights. BUT, I think that if a child (especially one who is 17 and could be emancipated) says she fears for her life, it should be taken seriously. What if it's not true? Well, what if it is? I think I would err on the side of caution and let her reside with a foster family until she turned 18.
ReplyDeleteI've known many people who have experienced persecution from their families as they converted or as they've grown in their faith. It's not pretty and outsiders rarely understand.