A responsible, honest man would have immediantly contacted child protective services in Ohio. They have to respond to every call, no matter what. And they don’t exactly annouce their arrival. So had an unexpected visit from Children’s Services had turned up any evidence of future violence, the girl would have been safe and Lorenz a hero for helping. But that is not what he did. He lured a child via the internet to cross state lines…and helped her get there. Paid for her to get there.

Its amazing how Lorenz is seen as a Good Guy because he has the tag “Christian” and Bary’s father as a bad guy because he has the tag “Muslim”. People are more ready to believe that the dad is evil because of his faith even though there is no evidence he is than that the Pastor is evil – because there is all kinds of evidence pointing to him that he is.

Your points are well taken. I certainly did not mean to say that ALL Muslim men will engage in honor killings against errant females in their families. And as you point out, honor killings by Muslims are comparatively rare in the US, but not unheard of. In Atlanta there have been at least two such murders in recent years, and let’s not forget the murder in Buffalo earlier this year committed by Mo Hassan (who ran a TV station devoted to perpetuating a moderate image of Islam, no less!). Anyway, I am only pointing that that these are factors–along with the tendency of abusive fathers to talk their way out of things with the police–are certainly a consideration.

I appreciate your insights into runaways, and I hope you are correct that the Barys have a peaceful and loving reconciliation.

Thanks!
John

2. I used to work at a runaway shelter. Children leave home for lots of different reasons, but they often put forward a reason that will garner them the most sympathy. Almost all can be reconciled with their families if the goal is to find a way to do so. By taking her religious claims as primary (instead of investigating other family conflicts as possible sources of conflict), the press is turning a family problem into a religious one, in the same way that they turned the Terri Schiavo case from a family issue to a religious one. (Although if Rev. Lorenz encouraged her to come to live with him,

3. 17-year-olds in most states are still minors. They cannot sign contracts and parents are still responsible for caring for them. I don’t know the laws in Ohio or Florida, but since Florida has taken her into temporary state custody, they clearly do not have an automatic emancipation law for 17-year-olds.

I expect that there will be a quiet reconciliation, if the church will keep the press out of the lives of this family. And John, try not to give atheists a bad name by publicly painting Islam with such a broad brush.