At Thursday's hearing, we'll find out the next step for Fathima Rifqa Bary, the Ohio teenager who ran away from home after, she says, her parents threatened to kill her for becoming a Christian. On August 21, with the strong support of Florida Governor Charlie Crist, Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson granted 17-year-old Bary the temporary right to remain with a foster family in Florida while her case is under investigation.
There are two new developments since last week. On Monday Rifqa's attorney, John Stemberger of the Alliance Defense Fund, filed a petition urging the court to recognize the "clear and present danger" in allowing the girl to be returned to her Muslim family. According to news reports, the latest filing provided "extensive documentation" linking the family's mosque, the Noor Islamic Cultural Center near Columbus, Ohio, with Islamic extremism and dangerous terrorist organizations. The 35-page memorandum argues for the teen to be declared a dependent of the State of Florida.
Rifqa's father, Mohamed Bary, maintains that he never threatened to kill his daughter and that she is free to practice whatever religion she chooses. In a recent Associated Press report, he said the ordeal started when he gave his daughter a laptop computer last fall. According to him, the teen began sleeping all day and searching the Internet at night.
Rifqa says she converted to Christianity four years ago, after an "incredible encounter with Jesus." She kept her salvation experience hidden from her family until recently when members of the Noor Center saw her Facebook postings and told Rifqa's parents about their daughter's Christian faith. Not long after that, the girl fled by bus to Orlando, Florida.
Some of you have written to me expressing serious concerns for the girl's safety. While it's difficult at this point to discern with any clarity who is telling the truth—Rifqa or her parents—it's haunting to consider these words from her attorney. Stemberger told FOXNews.com that if the girl is returned to her family it will only be a matter of time "until she slips away in the night."
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• Judge Decides Runaway Christian Teen Will Stay in Florida• Family Says Runaway Christian Teen Was Brainwashed