This will make everything better, you see. They just have to understand each other's religions. But as Pamela Geller points out, the plan is inconsistent and strange. If there is a possibility that she will not be returned home, how is it that they will discuss religion when she is home?
Perhaps what is meant is that the discussions will determine whether or not she is returned home. If that is the case, then she will certainly be returned home, for her father will speak about how Islam is peaceful and tolerant, and the caseworker of course will know that to think anything to the contrary would be "Islamophobia," and so therefore Rifqa is in no danger, and she will be returned home forthwith.
"Plan Calls for Teen Christian Convert, Muslim Parents to Talk About Religion," from FoxNews, December 1 (thanks to Pamela):
The runaway teen Muslim convert to Christianity who made national headlines when she ran away should talk to her parents about religion when they are reunited, according to a proposal filed in Ohio.A government caseworker outlined a plan calling for Rifqa Bary, 17, and her parents to listen to each other's views on religion.
Bary needs to hear out her parents' explanation of their beliefs when she goes home, according to the proposal filed in Franklin County Juvenile Court. In turn, her parents must listen to Bary explain her newfound Christianity.
The goal is for both sides to better understand why the teenager ran away to Florida over the summer and stayed with a Christian family she met online.
Bary has said she feared her father would harm or kill her for converting from Islam. Her father has denied the claim. A Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation found no credible threats to the girl.
The plan leaves open the possibility that the girl may never return home.
Bary was sent back to Ohio last month, where she is in the care of the county children's services agency. Her phone and Internet usage is being closely monitored to comply with a judge's ruling....
Pamela Geller's coverage of this case has been unparalleled, and is much needed now when most "conservative" blogs have shied away from this case like good dhimmis. Here she takes apart a highly disingenuous piece by one of the lawyers for the girl's parents, the CAIR-linked Shayan Elahi. And here is her piece in Human Events today on how Rifqa is being isolated.
If that is the case, then she will certainly be returned home, for her father will speak about how Islam is peaceful and tolerant, and the caseworker of course will know that to think anything to the contrary would be "Islamophobia," and so therefore Rifqa is in no danger, and she will be returned home forthwith."
Possibly, after all that has been widely publicized about the Nidal Malik Hasan case, and the misguided "trust" exhibited by the high muckamucks, that caseworker will be a little more hesitant about trusting the father's soothing assurances and even, possibly, read up a little on apostasy in Islam.
It seems to me this "let's share our religious views" idea is nothing more than a dog and pony show to be staged for the benefit of child protective services. Mr. Spencer is right to forsee the father being on his best "Islam loves the Christians" behaviour and no doubt Rifqa will be returned to their "loving and tolerant" household.
Perhaps I'm too optimistic but I think the publicity this case has generated may actually be the one thing that keeps her safe...I hope.
A government caseworker outlined a plan calling for Rifqa Bary, 17, and her parents to listen to each other's views on religion.
It shouldn't be too difficult for Rifqa to bait her parents into an islamic tantrum, should it?
When these 'government caseworkers' don't protect murdered children they cry about caseloads and budget restraints. When they actually do their job, they come up with a hair-brained plan of foolishness filled with danger.
"Bary needs to hear out her parents' explanation of their beliefs..." You 'need' to do this. You 'need' to do that. I 'need' you to be like this. Blah blah blah blah...
Forcing a face-to-face between Rifqa and her parents is akin to forcing a Christian into an arena with lions...
Too bad this 'plan' doesn't leave open the possibility that 'the girl' may not live long enough to decide her own life's course. Maybe this 'government caseworker' will be the cause of her death just before her 18th birthday.
How sad...
What are the odds of Rifqa winning her parents to the Lord?
Nonsense! Rifqa has been living with her parents, learning from their example, listening to them, and going to the same mosques they've gone to for most of her 17 years. Why would the caseworker think that she doesn't understand what her parents believe? Rifqa knows what her parents believe. However, they may have told the caseworker a very different story regarding their beliefs. If they're sugar coating their beliefs, the caseworker should be well trained enough to see through their lies. But, I guess that's asking too much.......
Now, on the other hand, no doubt her parents need to shut up and listen to Rifqa's beliefs and try to learn something. But, they won't., because they'll be too busy thinking of how they can discredit anything Rifqa says about her faith. What are the odds Rifqa's father is going to switch from threatening to kill her if she "has this Jesus in her heart", to saying he understands and wants her to follow the faith in her heart? Zero would be a good bet.
I still can't understand why any authority would return Rifqa to the same family that is responsible for blinding her in one eye. Apparently, the brother caused the damage and her parents didn't pursue treatment for her. At least, that's what the little bit I've read about it seems to indicate. Isn't that considered child abuse?
"Bary needs to hear out her parents' explanation of their beliefs..."
Wonder what those will be? Something like
Allahu Akbar... Muhammad (PBUH) is the greatest... Islam is Peace... Infidels are pigs and monkeys... Jihad Jihad... Allahu Akbar
Should make for a fascinating discussion.
Everyone should pray that Rifqa has the strength to witness to her parents at that meeting. She should explain how Muhammad was a false prophet and that they should accept Jesus and be saved. She could do this in such a way that her father (if he as would likely be expected reject her message) would probably not be able to control himself and become outraged screaming and hollering and jumping over the table at her which would of course settle the matter even for the witless case worker there to observe.
Push his buttons Rifqa, stand up for Jesus, it may just gain you your freedom, and it could even save your dad.
Same old, same old.
Mommy Dearest and Deadly Daddy will make nice talk and convince everybody (except for Rifqa) that they will respect her Christianity and that the whole death penalty for Islam apostates is a fairy tale invented by Pamela Gellar. Time will pass by and one day, when the roving eye of the American public has moved on to some scandal involving Brittany Spears and a camel, Rifqa will be quietly shipped to Sri Lanka (formerly know as Ceylon) and killed.
Is Political Correctness that crucial that this young woman must lose her life in order for American dhimmis to feel good about themselves and gain the approve of liberals everywhere?
I pray for this young woman and I pray that someone in Ohio remembers what Americans do in the face of brutality.
She runs away from the threat of death by ol' man laptop killer and/or external actors (Noor mosque denizen)and/or Facebook killers and now some make nice dialogue with her parents is going to wipe all the threats out and then she can peaceably return to Sri Lanka with them and live happily ever after as an apostate of islam? Yeah right.
Have they (OCS) had a doctor look at her eye yet? She needs it looked at and researched and diagnosed and finally operated on. Don't they have specialists in Switzerland specifically trained for that injury?
Without pre-agreed ground rules for such a meeting, those will be set by the adults involved, namely, Muhammad Bary.
What OCS doesn't appreciate is that the resulting "interfaith dialogue" will not be on a level playing field. In Sharia Law a woman's testimony is worth half that of a man. Worse yet, Christian testimony against a Muslim is invalid because the Christian persists in the enormity (sin) of denying the truth. (See Relance of the Traveler, section o24.0)
If, God forbid, she actually has to go back to her parents house, I hope there is a bathroom window she can get out of late at night at the earliest opportunity.
Rifqa, stall until you're 18, at which point the law will permit you more leverage, then ask your benighted mama and papa what justification they have for believing in any creator god whatsoever. Make them justify this belief without employing any fallacious reasoning, without making belief arbitrary, and without invoking the Koran or other Islamic scripture.
If they can do that, their next move would be to show that the Koran's god is the alleged creator god. While they are fashioning their arguments, throw in a test. Ask them if they think that the Koranic god, even if it did exist, could arrange the 114 chapters in an infinite number of different ways. In fact, ask them if Allah can arrange the letters {a, l, l, a, h} or {g, o, d} in an infinite number of different ways. The answer is "no" to the tests, as any high school mathematics teacher should be able to show you. If any creator god exists at all, its will is necessarily constrained by facts not under its control.
Probably they won't like the tests so very much, yet understanding the truths that the tests help to reveal will reduce the risk of you falling prey one day to errors like multiculturalism and epistemic relativism.
If you can get your parents to confess to believing that the Koran's god exists with untrammeled will, that it should be able to do anything it wants without limits, then you will *know* that their beliefs are substantially defective. If you can show that Islam prescribes such a belief, that by Islam's own theology either the Koran god's will is unlimited or it doesn't exist at all, then you've refuted Islam itself.
If you are told that the Koran does indeed affirm the alleged god's limits, then find out where the careful discourse is. I can find no such discourse, and the reason, I suspect, is that the author(s) of the Koran was ignorant of the relevant mathematics. Now, how could an all-knowing god be ignorant of math when math is so important to understanding the limits of will and hence to understanding the god? That god would not be a very impressive god, would it? It wouldn't even understand itself.
Now, if your parents resort to emotional appeals, esp. to threats or other scare tactics--and they probably will--if your parents accuse you of being prideful or deluded--and they probably will--if either throws a temper tantrum--and at least one probably will--if either protests that you ought not to test the god--and one probably will, then you will have an indication that you ought either (1) to intervene in their lives as if YOU were the loving parent and they the children or (2) to turn your back and to walk away from mama and papa until they demonstrate that their first responsibility is to ignore theology, Muhammad, etc. for the time being and instead just to start growing up.
This is obscene.
In a nation whose coins declare 'in God we trust' (and the God intended there, is NOT 'allah'), and in a country whose population is supposed to be majority-Christian, and in which the amendments to the constitution clearly proclaim separation of church and state and in which freedom of speech and freedom of conscience have been proudly affirmed for two centuries, a bunch of mindless idiots who are either too lazy to do their homework, or too foolish to understand what they're dealing with, or (worst case) who know damn well that Islam says apostates must be killed and that Muslims very often kill apostates, but who are too scared of Muslims and/ or too malevolently-inclined towards Christians, to care if Rifqa the former-Muslim-now-Christian gets her throat slit, are preparing to - in essence - hand over Rifqa Bary like a sacrificial lamb tied hand and foot, neck conveniently bared, for her parents or some other Muslim sharia-enforcer to execute.
I expect the 'discussion' would happen at the Bary home during a supervised visit.
This sounds to me like part of a Child Protection family reunification plan - have visits to the family home, talk about the issues 'making it hard to stay at home', work towards peaceful relations and reunification. Most child protection systems aim to re-unite families, for good reasons, so that is the style of process they are likely to be following.
Good behaviour during the supervised visits is likely to be a key criterion, so dissimulation by the father may be enough for him to get Rifqa sent 'home', even if she protests strongly.
dda, I agree with you. Another possibility is that the case worker is muslim - because it is culturally sensitive to have a worker with the same background as thje family. That could be a disaster for Rifqa, since the case worker is likely to refuse to criticise a muslim in front of an infidel (a high priority in islamic ethics)
Still, even if they have done their homework and know the danger, legally they still have to go the process of attempting reconciliation.
Anyone willing to take a bet that a CAIR rep will be in the room?
Rifqa needs to negotiate who will be in the room. Any extras - turn around. Or if the parents want an Imam, CAIR rep or lawyer on their side, then Rifqa can demand the same on her side.
In fact, having a CAIR rep in the room would be great - if Robert walked in by her side.
Good suggestion by Question Everything.
Lakeview: this would make sense if Rifqa was an atheist.
I hope I am wrong, but this not going to have a happy ending.
hope I am wrong, but this not going to have a happy ending.
I'm afraid I agree. There is no telling what CAIR, the evil parents, and their spiritual advisor from the local mosque have planned for this poor child. My guess is that the whole family will depart for Sri Lanka as soon as they get her back. I cannot believe the abject stupidity of the bureaucrats handling this case and the media that have covered it. They are negligent, incompetent, and STUPID!!!!
When the muslim bastards kill her, the irresponsible morons who ignored all the warnings and evidence from around the country and the world about islam, honor killings, and the death penalty for apostates will find someone else to blame for their criminal negligence. Political correctness is their sole interest, not the life of an innocent girl.
Daddy, I'm a Christian!
Daughter, I kill you.
What seems crazy about this whole thing is the idea that Rifqa somehow doesn't understand Islam. That would be like thinking that, after years of indoctrination in it, I don't understand Catholicism because I don't practice it anymore. I'm pretty sure that after getting a death threat one understands Islam quite well.
Rifqa understands very well what Islam is having grown up in it. I doubt very much that her parents can explain their beliefs and why they follow Muhammad and Islamic teaching. I have heard talk about Christianity in a video made by her friend Jamal Javanjee(sp). She lights up and is extraordinarily eloquent when she talks about Christianity. I doubt that her parents will understand or even listen. What utter stupidity!