Jamal Jivanjee, one of the pastors close to Rifqa Bary in Ohio, has made a Facebook posting entitled “4 Vital & Hidden Truths that Rifqa Bary’s Situation Revealed“. Number 4 in this list is of particular interest, although tantalisingly vague (his weird spellings of “Islm” and “Muslms” appear to be deliberate):
4. Former Muslms who leave Islm need to be protected from being exploited from the corrupt ‘underbelly’ of the Right Wing political movement.
Several months ago, I was asked to look into some potential unethical behavior going on behind the scenes regarding Rifqa’s situation. Without getting into details at this point, I discovered some things that were absolutely unethical and needed to be addressed. (Note: I am not talking about what I perceived as bad motives, I am talking about clear and specific unethical behavior). I confronted the parties involved and nothing was settled. I did not speak openly about the specifics of these things, but I was clear to Rifqa’s inner circle what I found. Understandably, Rifqa was told not to speak to me anymore because I did not understand the case and was causing problems. What Rifqa’s case revealed in this situation however is the need for people in her situation to be protected from a highly charged political culture in which the specific types of unethical behavior that I discovered is unfortunately a way of life.
People who leave Islm to follow Jesus are enigmas in our western culture, and it is easy for them to be corrupted or used for personal gain in unethical ways. These allegations that I have made have been hurtful to many people and have caused much division. It has cost me relationally as well, and I’m sure will continue to do so. There may even be some legal ramifications for myself because of some of the things that I am asserting. At this point, I am prepared to stand behind what I am implying if need be. I am convinced that Rifqa’s life and her case have been used to reveal many hidden things, and this is certainly one of them. While there is nothing in me that takes pleasure in saying these things, I have learned that when the truth is silenced for the sake of keeping ‘peace’, lies prevail…
No names are given, although this could be a dig at John Stemberger of the Florida Family Policy Council; Stemberger represented Bary in Florida, and in April he publicly cautioned that “Jamal Javanjee and Pamela Geller are not trusted or accurate sources of information on Rifqa Bary”. Geller’s blog carried information provided by Jivanjee in May, so it’s unlikely he means her – even though Geller and Robert Spencer are the members of “the Right Wing political movment” with whom he has been most closely associated.
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I’ve known this for quite some time now. It seems that many in the far right religious brigade have no interest in Christianity and use it mainly for their own political and financial gain. Something that irks me about the entire scam is the thought that none of these so-called Christians seem to care about the welfare of the people they mislead and use, leaving them less well off than before becoming associated with them. I think that if they want to be an arm of a political party, they should pay taxes. The rest of us pay taxes.
What about Christians who become Muslims – should
they be left entirely alone to make up their own minds.
Or in some countries forcible conversion to Islam takes place by offerering decapitation.
[…] a “svengali lawyer” and as a “clown”. Geller’s take was supported by Jamal Jivanjee, a pastor who was in contact with Bary in Ohio. It will surely be galling for Geller to see such […]