Of the young lady who converted from Islam to Christianity:
A 17-year-old girl who says she ran away from her Muslim family in Ohio because she feared she could be killed for converting to Christianity can remain in Florida for now.
An Orlando judge signed an order Thursday sealing a police report for at least ten days until lawyers for Rifqa Bary, her parents, and child welfare officials can read it. The report contains the results of a two-week investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement into Bary’s family and home life.
There is no easy answer, here. We want to stay out of family affairs. Parents do have a right to impart their views to their minor children and even, to a certain extent, compel conformity to religious practices while the child lives at home. On the other hand, there have been cases of girls who strayed from Moslem orthodoxy being killed by Moslem family members due to a false view of what constitutes honor. As the girl is 17, in less than a year the case will be moot – at 18, she’s free to do as she wishes.
And that is actually what concerns me – why should the parents want to force a near-adult child back home? While there may be anger and hurt feelings, using legal efforts to compel conformity is unlikely to bring the child back to the fold, nor cure any of the anger and hurt. In fact, its only likely to exacerbate it and thus there is a concern that the only reason to bring the girl back is to enforce something upon her – not necessarily harming her, but spiriting her out of the country in to a Moslem land where women are essentially regarded as property to be disposed of.
On balance and knowing what we know of these cases, I’d argue for judicial delay – making no hard and fast ruling which might set a bad precedent, but tying things up until the girl turns 18, at which time it won’t matter, any more.
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