Back on 22 August, a Christian Facebook page called “Voice of Truth Radio” drew attention to another Facebook page called “rifqa bary” and bearing the alarming description “why we need to kill her”. This anti-Bary page also carried a derivative (and neutral) news report which had been published in the Lanka Times the day before.
The story has now made its way to Pamela Geller, who has a couple of screenshots (here and here) showing that before it was taken down it had 123 members; however, while the eight members we can see on the screenshot include seven Muslim-origin names, they mostly belong to young Westernized-looking women, and there is also a white American conservative Christian woman. It should be remembered that people often join such groups without taking care to read exactly what they are about, or in order to monitor or argue with those they disagree with – therefore membership of the group does not in itself signify agreement with the description. Indeed, the “Wall” section below has postings denouncing “the lies” of Bary’s father. No admins are named – a notice reads that “there are no admins left”. In another screenhot, Geller shows us eight more members; here more-religious looking Muslim women predominate. Geller tells us that the page was brought to her attention by an ex-Muslim named Achmed.
A Google cache from 23 August shows that on that date there were only 11 members, and again none of them look like extremists. The death threat is still there, though, so it wasn’t added later, and we can see that the page’s creator and administrator at this point was a certain “Mohamed SahlanSuhail” (sic for lack of space between last two names). His own page has also disappeared, although MSN has a cache.
Incidentally, some have suggested that because of my distaste for the bandwagon of hucksters and demagogues who have attached themselves to this case, and because I have pointed out some problematic aspects to the story, it must therefore be the case that I wish to deny the existence of honour killing or the traditional death sentence for apostasy (two separate issues, by the way), and also that I must therefore disbelieve her account in favour of her father. Of course, that’s not my perspective at all – we all know that killings do occur, and my view is that an allegation of this sort ought to be investigated. However, that investigation needs to focus on the particular home situation; the idea that the father must be a potential killer simply because he’s a Muslim is not a serious way of proceeding.
Name variation: Mohamed Sahlan Suhail
Filed under: Uncategorized
However, that investigation needs to focus on the particular home situation; the idea that the father must be a potential killer simply because he’s a Muslim is not a serious way of proceeding
Of course not. However, the father’s ties with the radical islamist Noor Centre, his entourage of fundamentalist friends, and the testamony of Rifka herself ( in parts of which she appears to have been coached, by the way) are nonetheless cause for serious concern and caution.
Now, not ALL honor killings occur in Muslim households, but the fact remains that Islam claims, and this by far, the largest share of these murders. Nor are these killings akin to domestic violence in any way. ‘Ordinary’ domestic violence is almost always spontaneous, one-on-one, and characterised by uncontollable rage, whereas honor killings are almost always pre-meditated, often involve multiple family members and often contain a component of ‘overkill’.
By the latter, I mean that the corpse is defiled after death such as in the case of the ‘Bridges T.V.’ honor killing where the husband hacked off his wife’s head after having murdered her.
“Of course not. However, the father’s ties with the radical islamist Noor Centre”
And there would be no problem if it was a Christian with ties to any radical church
“his entourage of fundamentalist friends”
he ahs friends that are terrorists or have killed people in cold blood? And claimed to have done this becauseof their religion?
“and the testamony of Rifka herself ( in parts of which she appears to have been coached, by the way) are nonetheless cause for serious concern and caution.”
A young teenage runaway, a drama queen who was groomed and then lured away from home by an old Christian man cia the internet. That alone is disgusting and deserves condemnation. How many Christian priests and pastors are guilty of abusing young children, especially the culnerable ones who dont have a family or have run away?
“Now, not ALL honor killings occur in Muslim households, but the fact remains that Islam claims, and this by far, the largest share of these murders.”
Just like male on female violence and the most women in jails can be found in the US. So that must be proof of something right?
“Nor are these killings akin to domestic violence in any way. ‘Ordinary’ domestic violence is almost always spontaneous, one-on-one, and characterised by uncontollable rage, whereas honor killings are almost always pre-meditated, often involve multiple family members and often contain a component of ‘overkill’.”
So if an honour killing was spontaneous, it wouldnt be as bad? What a load of hooey. There have been loads of domestic violence cases where cheating women, or women just being women, have been killed in Christian homes, or driven to suicide, not sponatneously, but with a plan. Turn on the Crime channel for a change.
“By the latter, I mean that the corpse is defiled after death such as in the case of the ‘Bridges T.V.’ honor killing where the husband hacked off his wife’s head after having murdered her.”
Ah, if a Muslim murders his wife, which can only mean an honourkilling, and cuts her up, that means he was defiling her so she couldnt get into heaven, or something… But if a non-Muslim/Christian murders his wife and or kids and cuts them up and keeps them in the freezer or throws them off a bridge, well, thats just a sick murdered, with no connection to any religion, right? Disgusting.
Aw man, I do make a lot of grammatical errors on this blog :( It must be the colours o.0
The “radical” Noor Center? Did you read the article about the Noor Center in the Orlando Sentinel? This mosque is involved in interfaith activities, which is really what you’d not expect from such a hotbed of terrrrrrrrsm [deliberately misspelled].
Seriously, the problem that some people have here is Islam, and that’s it. If, for example, a girl named Rhonda Barry [made up name] from an Evangelical Christian family had converted to Islam and then taken off to Florida and was being sheltered in a mosque, there’d be NO END to the hell raised. I “joked” on a previous comment that everyone would end up in Gitmo–the truth would probably be not very far from that.
Why is it that Blake Lorenz is able to break the law with impunity with regards to letting the authorities know where Rifqa was? If he didn’t have Reverend in front of his name, he’d be cooling his heels in the county jail on some sort of charges related to luring a teenage female across state lines. Why isn’t THAT a crime? Is it because in Lorenz’ mind, he can break any damn law he feels like because his higher morality says so?
I sincerely hope that Miss Bary is sent back to Ohio, and soon. Florida is not the venue for this case. Moreover, the Lorenzes and anyone else in their church, plus any attorneys and whoever else was involved, they should be prosecuted instead of cheered so that this doesn’t occur again.
Ironically, all of these alleged Christians had no problem flouting “thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother, so thy days may be long upon the earth” by interfering with the parent-child relationship in the name of religion. In their own sick and twisted way, the Lorenzes, the attorneys, yeah, they’ve done their own “honor killing” of the family relationship.
And yes, I’m very angry.
A husband with a history of domestic violence kills his wife when she tries to divorce him. What’s specifically Muslim about that?
Take the murder of Susan Goswell in 2008 – her husband bludgeoned and stabbed her when she confessed she hadn’t been a virgin on her wedding night. But he wasn’t Muslim, so it wasn’t an honour killing. Obviously.
And there would be no problem if it was a Christian with ties to any radical church
Rifka’s father is a muslim, not a Christian, and he belongs to an extremist mosque and not a Church.
A young teenage runaway, a drama queen who was groomed and then lured away from home by an old Christian man cia the internet.
Rifka converted several years ago of her own free will and just this year made the free and conscious decision to leave home, knowing the family’s mindset, after her parents discovered her conversion.
So if an honour killing was spontaneous, it wouldnt be as bad? Few honor killings are spontaneous…which is precisely what makes them different from domestic violence. Also, honor killings are usually premeditated, corordinated, and often involve more than one family member. Our legal system ( America’s) distinguishes between crimes of passion, as in cases of domestic violence, and pre-meditated murder as in the case of honor killings.
But if a non-Muslim/Christian murders his wife and or kids and cuts them up and keeps them in the freezer or throws them off a bridge, well, thats just a sick murdered, with no connection to any religion, right?
Yes, more or less. Islamic culture has a shame/honor morality that compells SOME muslims (mostly males) to restore family honor by erasing the stain (ie a family member who converts to Christianity) that is responsable for the shame. The case of a guy killing his wife and kids is just plain old murder, prompted not by cultural/religious notions of shame and honor, but rather by a desire for revenge, a motivation that denotes, in fact, a complete absence of religious considerations.
her husband bludgeoned and stabbed her when she confessed she hadn’t been a virgin on her wedding night
So she confessed and five minutes later was dead, right? And when dead he just left. That’s a classic case of domestic violence, and I’ve a sneaking hunch that the guy who did it feels a great deal of remorse
Honor killings, on the other hand, and as in the case of Bridges T.V., are often planned weeks ahead time, are carefully coordinated and have absolutely no elements of spontaneity. The husabnd in the bridges T.V. case has expressed absolutely no remorse.
Our legal system makes a distinction between murders committed on the spur of the moment, out of passion, and those that are planned, premeditated and carried out in a cold-blooded and coordinated manner. They’re called 1st degree and 2nd degree murder respectively.
Gosh! I’m so glad neither “Me” nor “Mrs Gimble” are lawyers!
What about the parents who deny their children medical treatment in the name of Jesus? What about the husbands who beat the crap out of their wives because they fervently believe they’re the head of the household and that they should be obeyed? I knew a guy, an (alleged) Christian, and he believed that it was NOT POSSIBLE for a husband to rape his wife, that she had to put out whenever he wanted sex. Come to find out, this is definitely a minority opinion, but he wasn’t the only guy with a sick and twisted idea of the relationship between husband and wife based on his reading of the Bible.
I’d also suggest that you do some research into “honor killings.” The ones that I’m familiar with (and I’m not denying they occur) have to do with the family losing honor or face over the alleged *sexual misconduct* of the daughter, not because the daughter converts to Christianity. When I lived in Utah in the 1990s, there was an attempted kidnapping/honor killing with a twist: the woman had a girlfriend and the family was mortified to the point of seeking her death. Yes, they were convicted. In short, it’s not about religious belief, it’s about honor (which is why Aasiya Zubair’s murder is not properly classified an “honor killing”). But gee, my experience with most evangelical Christians has been that they’ll believe absolutely the worst things about Islam, even when (as noted above in the case of Noor Center) these are flat-out falsehoods. There seems to be no effort to learn the truth here, just to strew red herrings everywhere.
“Rifka’s father is a muslim, not a Christian, and he belongs to an extremist mosque and not a Church.”
Which is the biggest thing working against him. Let’s face it: if a Christian wose father had ties to a Radical Church ran away, no one would care or even bring up the church. But because he is a Muslim, we have to suddenly bring up all these irrelevant relations.
“Rifka converted several years ago of her own free will and just this year made the free and conscious decision to leave home, knowing the family’s mindset, after her parents discovered her conversion.”
Her parents knew about her being a Christian well before she left home. There is no evidence that her parents were going to kill her even after they found out. However, the grooming she received online by the pastor is directly related to her decision to run away to him. Ofcourse, people like you wont take into account the numerous accounts of vulnerable children being abused by pastors and or priests because, well, we all know why, right? (Hint: he’s not a Muslim)
“Few honor killings are spontaneous…which is precisely what makes them different from domestic violence. Also, honor killings are usually premeditated, corordinated, and often involve more than one family member. Our legal system ( America’s) distinguishes between crimes of passion, as in cases of domestic violence, and pre-meditated murder as in the case of honor killings.”
I dont think you understand the point I was trying to make, namely that any murder, whether it be premeditated or not, is morally just as abhorrent. Just because the law treats them differently doesnt mean we should be less apalled by one type and more by the other. I dont know whether you understand that but at least you admit that premeditated murder is just like an honour killing. Me personally, I dont believe that we should use the term honour killing. To me its just murder, varying degrees yes, but murder nonetheless.
“Yes, more or less. Islamic culture has a shame/honor morality that compells SOME muslims (mostly males) to restore family honor by erasing the stain (ie a family member who converts to Christianity) that is responsable for the shame. The case of a guy killing his wife and kids is just plain old murder, prompted not by cultural/religious notions of shame and honor, but rather by a desire for revenge, a motivation that denotes, in fact, a complete absence of religious considerations.”
And here we have it: there can be no Muslim criminal who isnt motivated by his or her religion. This is the coup de grace of the mental athletics the anti-Islamics are trying to push on this case, and have been doing ever since 9/11.
Your post suggests that you dont know the first thing about why these so called honour killings take place, even though Bart has posted on why Rifqa’s understanding of an honour killing is flawed. People like you cannot wait tod raw a connection between what you think Islam says and a Muslim criminal, but when you are presented with verses from the Bible and Christian criminals and murderers, you excuse their behaviour by dismissing what their religion demands. You are however, for some reason, unable to do this for Muslim criminals.
The kind of thinking that you are employing is the same kind that is employed by people who blame a black criminal’s skin colour instead of his mental state or environment or any other factor. Its disgusting.
“Honor killings, on the other hand, and as in the case of Bridges T.V., are often planned weeks ahead time, are carefully coordinated and have absolutely no elements of spontaneity. The husabnd in the bridges T.V. case has expressed absolutely no remorse.”
There are tonnnes of Christian murderers in US jails who are guilty of premeditated murder and havent expressed any remorse. Ofcourse, that has nothing to do with the Bible and the verses I pointed out to you that you just waived away right?
“Our legal system makes a distinction between murders committed on the spur of the moment, out of passion, and those that are planned, premeditated and carried out in a cold-blooded and coordinated manner. They’re called 1st degree and 2nd degree murder respectively”
So you admit that both kinds of murders are committed even by non-Muslims? Interesting. Some might say, there are people like that all over the world….
“Gosh! I’m so glad neither “Me” nor “Mrs Gimble” are lawyers!”
Im a Law student in the UK
Thank you for bringing some sanity to this dispute. I have been interested that no Columbus group of Christians has laid claim to Rifqa. There was the suggestion that she had been a part of Xenos–which Xenos denied.
Her affadavit says that she was baptised at Korean Methodist Church–which is very interesting as it appears, by its website, to be a Korean language church. While Rifqa might conceivably have attended with a friend, it just doesn’t seem likely that she would have been drawn in. She mentions going to campus area religious meetings (and her parents mention that she was routinely picked up at the house by people who did not come up to the door). This would fit with Xenos. Apparently Juvanjee also had a campus ministry, supported/started by the Gahanna church that ties back to Liberty and Caner.
Any of these campus sorts of groups might be the sort of place where the emotionalism of a commitment to Christ might reign, and in which a young girl might easily come and go without any responsible adult having any conversation with her about how her new-found religion fit with her parents’ culture. In my experience, such groups are big on numbers, singing, rejoicing in themselves, lite on actual religion and highly supportive of kids signing on without giving a thought to any potential life-changing aspects of Christianity.
I rather suspect that the Pastors Lorenz have merely provided a convenient landing place in a state that allows for the emancipation of minors, and has a track record of being swayed by right wing groups in previous family custody issues (Schiavo, Gonzales). And they are connected to the Kansas City set up (which has taken the campus crusade model viral via the internet).
Whatever we have learned, or not, about Islam as a result of this case, I am far more concerned about what I have been learning about fellow Christians–and I am disturbed even by using that term. Baptism is a sacrement, not to be taken lightly. Anyone who undertakes to proselytize, convert and baptise minors owes to both them and their families a debt of continued involvement. Playing Devil’s advocate and assuming that the Bary family is a direct threat–where is the loving protection of those adults who introduced her to the love and protection of the Christian God and Jesus. Do we so little honor this sacrament that it is no more than driving through a car wash? Say yes and go forth in the euphoric acceptance and keep watching?
Very disturbing all the way around.
June`s mask has just slipped. Its obvious you have no sincere interest in the welfare of this young girl . You are much more interested in getting one over against the hated muslims. If a 16 year old white girl from a christian background had run away and met up with a middle aged arab muslim man she had met on the internet the florida police would have come down on the arab like a ton of bricks and the reaction would have been hysterical.
The story would have been presented as an example of debauched lecherous swarthy arab abducting and grooming white christian girls. The various various anti muslim bigots who are “supporting” Rifqa have no real interest in her welfare she is just a pawn a trophy in their crusade. The authorities should place her in a secular foster home till she is old enough decide what she wants to do with her life while possibly allowing controlled parental access and keep her away from these crazed christian extremists. The pastor who unlawfully kept her in his house for over two weeks without informing the authorities should be investigated. Incidentally there are plenty of honour killings in the west carried out by non muslims but they are typically called “crimes of passion” or domestic murders domestic violence etc instead. The truth is that what really motivates June and her ilk is hatred of muslims but she disguises this with pious and sanctimonious talk about saving women from the barbarous clutches of the mussalman but I suspect she is not honest enough to admit this.
Youre right, this is what would happen. Unfortunately, being a Muslim in the land of the free will work massively against Rifqa’s father or mother.
No, I’m not a lawyer – but I’m married to an ex-solicitor. And I’m in the UK (having been on the interwebs for close to a decade, I’m used to Americans assuming that everybody else on the internet is also American, and no longer take offence.)
Like Me says, murder is murder, whatever the motivation – and that’s good point about equating “all blacks are criminals” with “all Muslims are terrorists/fundamentalists”. I’ll deffo use that next time I’m arguing with a US Islamophobe.
And finally June – since (going by your posts here) you appear to believe that Christian churches can never be dangerously extremist, just look up Dominionism. In fact, to save you the bother of Googling, here’s a nice little linky that gives the background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominionism
A Google cache from 23 August shows that on that date there were only 11 members, and again none of them look like extremists.
That’s because here in the States, some of our ‘extremists’ dress steathly to avoid notice.
Some are blood thirsty mass murderers who get their rocks off invading countries like Iraq, using lies and deceits to trick gullible Americans into hating all things Muslim.
Those kind are give a special dispensation by stealing into the office of the President where a majority of Americans cheer lustily whenever watching ENN–Empire News Network–anytime a smart bomb slams into a Arab home.
Other extremists grab a Bible and start thumping it soundly, twisting and distorting what it says to suit their own ends, which usualy involve living like royalty on the flock’s money.
A good way for these Hagee types to live like a king is to poison their flock against Muslims and scream that we must bomb another Muslim country, Iran, in God’s name.
Still others hide behind pseudo-news outlets, like WND and affect a moral superiority on world affairs, that usually involve creating hatred of Muslims.
What’s confusing to me is that Islam recognizes and respects the Christian savior, Jesus Christ, but only recognize him as a prophet, which is how he was viewed by the Church until the Council of Nicaea in 325.
But Judaism takes a very dim view of JC, saying he’s some sort of devil that is burning in a pit of excrement for eternity and that his mother Mary was a whore.
Which religion do you think we allay ourselves with?
The authorities should place her in a secular foster home till she is old enough decide what she wants to do with her life while possibly allowing controlled parental access and keep her away from these crazed christian extremists.
But don’t you understand? It is Rifka and her protectors ( the pastor and his wife) who want her placed in foster care. Her parents, on the other hand, want her returned to them.
Which is the biggest thing working against him.
Well, is frequenting an extremist mosque, a mosque that has seen a couple of its members arrested and charged with enabling terrorism supposed to gain you brownie points? Should we give Mr Bary a prize, or something, for associating with murderous extremists?
OF COURSE being a member of an extremist mosque works against him.
This Noor Centre, by the way, is about to come under some intense scrutiny, and god only knows what the authorities may find.
What’s confusing to me is that Islam recognizes and respects the Christian savior,
And indeed Islam invokes Christ in order to sow confusion.
The “christ” in Islam is a paper cut-out ‘loss-leader’ designed to rook people into thinking that islam and Christianity are of the same divine line. Islam’s use of Christ reminds one of those devious Chinese companies that churn out forgeries of western designer goods using logos that are nearly identical to the real thing in the hope of fooling unsuspecting consumers into buying low-market goods at upscale market prices.
What makes christ Christ, what makes him ‘designer’, a savior, is his crucifixion, death and ressurection, and it is that same crucifixion, death and ressurection that Islam and Muslims vehemently deny. In doing so, Muslims they clearly demonstrate that Islam doesn’t rever Christ as a savior. He is merly a fishing lure
I hope I’ve dissipated some of you confusion, Gregg.
If a 16 year old white girl from a christian background had run away and met up with a middle aged arab muslim man she had met on the internet the florida police would have come down on the arab like a ton of bricks and the reaction would have been hysterical.
Rifak didn’t meet up “with-a-Christian-man”. She met up with an entire congregation, told them of her plight, and the pastor of that congregation, as well as his wilfe, then agreed to take her in and to help her.
She wsasn’t looking for a date, she was trying to remain alive.
“But don’t you understand? It is Rifka and her protectors ( the pastor and his wife) who want her placed in foster care. Her parents, on the other hand, want her returned to them.”
Oh my, parents wanting their groomed and brainwashed underage child to be returned to them, the HORROR!!!
“Well, is frequenting an extremist mosque, a mosque that has seen a couple of its members arrested and charged with enabling terrorism supposed to gain you brownie points? Should we give Mr Bary a prize, or something, for associating with murderous extremists?
OF COURSE being a member of an extremist mosque works against him.
This Noor Centre, by the way, is about to come under some intense scrutiny, and god only knows what the authorities may find. ”
Actually I was saying that being a Muslim works against him. It wouldnt matter if he was linked to a “radical” center or not. They would find something to link him to. Maybe “his grandpappy used to live Germany” will be the next accusation.
“And indeed Islam invokes Christ in order to sow confusion.”
And what does Judaism say about Jesus? And what do Christianity and Judaism say about Muhammad? Well, it seems that out of those 3 religions, there is only one who is able to show respect to both of them.
“The “christ” in Islam is a paper cut-out ‘loss-leader’ designed to rook people into thinking that islam and Christianity are of the same divine line. Islam’s use of Christ reminds one of those devious Chinese companies that churn out forgeries of western designer goods using logos that are nearly identical to the real thing in the hope of fooling unsuspecting consumers into buying low-market goods at upscale market prices.”
Ofcourse, ofcourse. Your religios interpretation of what Islam says about Jesus, who is placed on one of the highest pedestal there btw, is irrelevant to this dicussion.
“What makes christ Christ, what makes him ‘designer’, a savior, is his crucifixion, death and ressurection, and it is that same crucifixion, death and ressurection that Islam and Muslims vehemently deny. In doing so, Muslims they clearly demonstrate that Islam doesn’t rever Christ as a savior. He is merly a fishing lure”
Quite clearly you dont know much about Islam. Muslims dont believe they need to be saved. They believe everyone is born sinless, not that we carry within us the sins of Adam. There is no need for Muslims to believe in someone coming to save them by dieing for their sins.
“Rifak didn’t meet up “with-a-Christian-man”. She met up with an entire congregation, told them of her plight, and the pastor of that congregation, as well as his wilfe, then agreed to take her in and to help her.
She wsasn’t looking for a date, she was trying to remain alive.”
Funny how she was living with her parents for 4 years, and only after her father got her a laptop (I know, that must be a Muslim move of saying “I’m gonna kill you!”, right?) did she start getting groomed online to run away. Otherwise, prove that her parents wanted to kill her during those 4 years she lived there as a Christian.
June–I don’t know (although I can guess) where you are getting your information, but even Stemberger doesn’t go so far as to say that arrested terrorists are members of the Noor Center. The charge he makes (follow carefully, because this one gets twisty) is that the current imam, was imam of a different Columbus mosque in 1992 (although the man says he led prayers there as a student, but was never imam). This mosque is the place where three men who have been investigated and charged with terrorist acts were known to worship. The FBI has stated that the Noor Center was never a part of the testimony given in any of the three trials.
It takes a number of fairly large leaps to give the Noor Center the “terrorist” connection that it is supposed to have. It also takes some wholly unsubstantiated leaps to place Rifqa and her family anywhere near the center of life at this center.
But, what remains to be seen is where is there in Columbus any Christian community claiming Rifqa? With whom was she worshipping? With the exception of Beverly Lorenz, every Christian who can be linked to Rifqa is characterized as male, older and a contact that was made over the internet. Who chooses to proselytize in this fashion?
I hope I’ve dissipated some of you confusion, Gregg.
No June, you’ve just confirmed that you are either a disinfo outlet who is paid to sow confusion and fear or some kind of religious ‘fundie’ who is cheering loudly this latest incarnation of the ‘Crusades.’
I noticed you cherry picked what you needed to put across your warped ideology that shows your hatred of Muslims.
Why not address what Judaism has to say about Jesus Christ? Or does the fact that Judaism looks at JC like some sort of demon not fit into your skewered vision of humanity, the one that will have Christians and Muslims fighting one another for decades, cheered on by dubious MSM outlets like WND?
Or the fact that Christianity didn’t recognize JC as a god until the 325 Council of Nicaea?
The girl I saw looked hypnotised, and I fear this will turn ugly for all involved.
The group did exist and follow a pattern similar to other campaigns that I came across from the same sources. However, they all looked disingenuous as if they were deliberately created to suit the same hustlers.
If they cared about this girl, they would have been keeping quiet and threading their lines carefully rather than generalising Muslims, even criminalising innocent Muslims because they once attended the same mosque with a person charged for criminal activity.