Is Newsweek Trying to Kill Rifqa Bary?

Is Newsweek Trying to Kill Rifqa Bary?

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Just 8 years ago we were attacked by Islamic Terrorists and that dastardly attack precipitated, at long last, an appropriate response from our government. As a result we have not been attacked in our country the last 8 years. At least, not overtly in a military manner.

That is good.

We are a nation of religious liberty and that is as it should be. One can come here and worship in any manner he or she wishes, so long as he doesn't infringe on the religious rights of others. That is the very basis of our religious liberty but it wasn't always so. There was a time when you would be put in the stocks in Williamsburg for being Roman Catholic instead of belonging to the Church of England. We were, of course, still subject to the crown and that was before our independence. By the time we severed our ties with the British our greatest thinkers had deeply held beliefs that religion was a province of the individual and individual states and not to be dictated by the Federal government. This belief was so central to the core thinking of our founding fathers that they incorporated it into Amendment I, the 1st Amendment we call it today, of the Bill of Rights.

That is very good.

As a matter of fact, religions compete for the finite number of souls available in this mortal plane. Each varies its method of worship and dogma in order to distinguish itself from other religions--a necessity as all claim to know the only true path to the same God--and each ostensibly, at least in modern, ecumenical times, gets along peaceably with other religions. But we must never forget that there are extremists in all religions. Those that twist religious dogma in this way live among us and have their apologists active in the media.

That is bad.

Newsweek has become one such apologist. Rifqa Bary, the young, 17-year old girl who converted from Islam to Christianity deserves, considering the factual history of Islamist treatment of apostates, to be taken seriously. Instead, Newsweek and the author down-play the danger. Instead of looking objectively at the modern history of the Islamic--no other religion kills those who try to leave unless you count the Mafia as a religion--murders of apostates, Newsweek plays down the potential of violence and accepts the father's assurances that nothing will happen.

This is very bad.

Reading the article made me wonder if Newsweek, once a fairly balanced weekly news magazine, has completely lost its moral compass. I find it hard to believe that they would blandly accept the statements of the father or the Noor Mosque. I find it hard to believe that Newsweek could be so blatantly naïve. Or is Newsweek's action due to their desire to be über politically correct in accepting the stories given by those who want Rifqa Bary back with her parents?

Partly because of the publicity she has thus far remained safe in Florida. She has also become a very high value target for Islamic Terrorists who want to reinforce the "you can come in but you can never leave" promise of Islam. But the threat against her makes me wonder why any religion would have to kill those who wanted to leave. The promise of judgment and punishment is the province of God alone. It should not, indeed cannot, be left to the hands of religious fanatics of any stripe.

I hope and pray that the State of Florida will not be as naïve as Newsweek. So far the Florida Court has held in Rifqa's favor. May that continue.