Here's an interesting one. A Sri Lankan teen who lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her parents, ran away a week or two ago. She was located in Florida, where she was staying with a pastor and his family, who are part of a church group the girl joined on Facebook. When the teen told authorities she fled her family because of fears that her Muslim father would kill her for converting to Christianity, they immediately placed her in state custody.
The girl claims she sought help from the family because she had nowhere else to turn. Her father -- who did report his daughter missing -- says he would never harm his daughter for becoming a Christian. The girl is seventeen, so now the state of Florida must decide what happens to her.
This does make me wonder what might happen if a seventeen-year-old who wanted to be Wiccan ran away from her Christian family, and showed up at the home of some Pagan she'd befriended online. Or what if the girl from Sri Lanka was twelve, and not seventeen? There are so many potential variables here that it's going to be quite a sticky mess to sort out how involved the state needs to get. I don't envy anyone involved in this case at all. Ultimately, what matters most is this teen's safety, not what religion she wants to practice.
Well, one of the unfortunate things here is that there is the possibility that her father could ‘literally’ kill her…the Muslim faith holds little respect for females of the family, and although only a few such families are personally known to me, The fathers of these families have been prone to violence, sometimes extremely executed, when a wife/daughter goes against them or their strict demands/wishes/rules,etc. So, regardless of the claims to not harm her, they could simply be a ruse to have the girl returned to his household.
All I can say here is I hope, given her age, they allow this girl to remain away from her family and practice the following of her choosing, in safety.
If the girl is in fact speaking the truth and her family is set to kill her, it is definitely the family to blame- not Islam. There is no teaching in Islam that allows murder because of conversion to a different religion. There is a great misunderstanding, and it is up to individuals to inform themselves of this. The family has no right to label their skewed thinking as Islam. If they do in fact believe that it is a part of religion, I strongly advise these people to reevaluate the teachings of the religion they claim to believe.
On the other hand, the girl could easily be lying when she says that the family’s intent is to murder her because of religion, so that she can be away from home- after all, she is a teenager.
Whatever religion people hope to pursue, I hope they find happiness in it, but please do NOT use people’s demented views to make a religion into what it is not. We are fortunate to have information at our fingertips in the era that we live in, and we should have the ability to use that information to truly understand the religions and cultures in our world. Lets inform ourselves with concrete facts, and not base our information on wayward thinking of uninformed individuals.
The latest update is that the family is concerned their daughter has been brainwashed: http://www2.nbc4i.com/cmh/news/local/article/parents_say_local_runaway_was_brainwashed/21038/
I wholeheartedly agree with you, Pinksunset. It is the mark of a learned and intelligent individual to observe a different person’s religious or spiritual mindset and examine it for oneself. There is beauty in every religion of the world. Just as there are different paths to (the) God(s). I hope she will be allowed to practice as she wishes and not be returned.
what if it was someone younger then seventeen,,,,my daughter is 13 and it scares me to think she would have to run away because she thinks she couldnt come talk to me about anything….she know i was her age once and there is nothing that she is going through that i see that we cant talk thro or about…..
While there are extremists in all religions and ‘honour killings’ do occur against Muslim females sometimes, I think it is unfounded to be immediately suspicious of the Muslim family in this case. I am instead suspicious of a Pastor who thinks it is responsible to encourage and allow a minor to ‘hitchhike’ her way to his home after knowing her over the internet for just two weeks, who only notified the correct authorities after they ratted him out through computer records! I am glad this girl is with the Department of Children and Families and out of the clutches of this suspicious individual. A good child psychologist will be able to tell if she has been persuaded that her life is in danger or whether she really, truly is telling the truth.
There *are* weirdo cults online that prey on the insecurities of the young and they operate out of the websites that the young frequently go to, like Facebook. These cults operate under many guises, they pretend to be Christian/Muslim/Pagan/Satanic…but all of them are manipulative and dangerous. It is not a Christian teaching to seperate a child from her parents, and if the child truly was in danger of being killed for her faith, there are the proper authorities like the Police, who have to take all life-threatening claims seriously. A truly responsible friend and Pastor would tell the girl to talk to the Police or a trusted teacher at school.
Decca, I’m with you on this. I find it a bit unsavory for a pastor to encourage a teen to run away, halfway across the country. If they were really concerned about her, they’d have found a way to help her talk to her parents, rather than hiding her for a couple of weeks under the guise of “protection.” I know darn well there are plenty of Christian churches in Columbus who would have helped this kid out if she really thought she was in danger.
Also, as you said, it’s very easy to point fingers and talk about the fear of honor killings, but that happens only in a small minority. Sadly, those are the stories that make the news. I know several Muslims, and not a single one condones violence of this nature.
I think if this girl is with protective services, she’s right where she should be until this all gets sorted out.
patti