Yesterday Judge Daniel Dawson decided to let Fathima Rifqa Bary remain in foster care under the jurisdiction of Florida's Department of Children and Families, and for the time being, recommended that the custody case be settled in mediation.
To me, this seems like a wise decision.
If you haven't been following the story, you can get caught up here:
• Family Says Runaway Christian Teen Was Brainwashed
• Judge Decides Runaway Christian Teen Will Stay in Florida
• What's Next for the Ohio Teen Runaway?
At the latest hearing on Thursday, new and serious allegations surfaced. Rifqa's attorney filed documents stating specific incidents in which the teen had been sexually and physically abused by members of her family.
I'm glad the judge is giving both sides credence. Potentially, a life is at stake here. I've heard all too many voices willing to disregard the 17-year-old's claims that her parents have threatened to kill her. But why, tell me, would she trust strangers in a distant state more than the loving parents she's known all of her life?
What would drive a young woman to make up such hateful stories, reject her family, run away from her friends and her home, and enter into this conflict? I suppose there could be an explanation. I admit to having doubts about her story, especially when I listen to her parents. They say Rifqa has been brainwashed by the Christian pastors who have opened up their homes as a refuge. I wonder also, what would they gain from an ugly court battle? Are Christians really that low to use a teenage girl to pick an anti-Muslim culture war? None of it makes any sense. Unless, of course, the girl is telling the truth.
In America, we want to believe in a world where fathers protect their children. We tend to reject the idea that evil exists—that a man could kill his own daughter for becoming a Christian. But evil is real. This United Nations Population Fund report suggests that honor killings throughout the world are on the rise, and that approximately 5000 women and girls are murdered by members of their own families each year.
I pray Rifqa will be safe. Her attorney, told FOXNews.com Monday that if the she is returned to her family it will only be a matter of time "until she slips away in the night." I sincerely hope these haunting words don't come true.
At yesterday's hearing, all parties in the case were put under a strict gag order by Judge Dawson, so I may not have an update until the next hearing on September 29.