| WDBO Local News |
Runaway Christian convert's dad: Orlando church is a cult
The father of a teenage girl who ran away from her Muslim parents in Ohio because she feared they would kill her for converting to Christianity is calling an Orlando church a cult.
Rifqa Bary's father, Mohamed, denies he threatened his daughter and says she's being "coached" by the pastor of the Global Revolution Church.
"Not at all. It's completely false. Honestly, it's not my daughter who is speaking. I feel that she has been coached to say these things," Bary told WBNS-TV in Columbus, Ohio.
Bary told reporters he believes Pastor Blake Lorenz of the Global Revolution Church "brainwashed" his daughter. He says cops tracked her to Lorenz after officials threatened to arrest a man who connected the teen with the church.
Bary's older brother, Rilyan, told WBNS that she never talked about violence or honor killing until she met with Lorenz.
"You also saw in the video someone is patting her on the back and saying good job," Rilyan said. "She's definitely been told what to do. It's not even her. She's not even making eye contact in the video. What does that tell you?"
WDBO tried to speak with Lorenz about the allegations on Thursday, but was told the pastor and his wife had left Orlando on vacation.
On Monday, an Orlando judge ordered the girl into Department of Children and Families custody until a hearing late next week.
Bary and her family are from Sri Lanka, and she is not a U.S. citizen. She fears her parents would kill her or send her back to her native country if she were returned to them in Ohio.
The family's attorney Craig McCarthy told WDBO Bary's parents knew that she was leaning towards Christianity for months, and Christian literature was in the house. McCarthy says the parents have assured him they have no desire to hurt their daughter.
What others are saying
- Islamwhether or not this girl is lying i dont know but what i do know is that Islam in no way condones or accepts killings, furthermore in Islam if you have commited murder against one person it will give you as much sin as having killed everybody. This thing either must be cultural or to do with sharia law which i personally dont accept as the right way to practice Islam as i am a sunni muslim.
- Rifga BaryI fully understand this girl's plite and believe her. At 17 I became a very active Christian. My parents(Irish-Americans), who at the time, were not affiliated with any faith, became beligerant, nasty and malipulative.
I experence beatings, ridiculed and demeaned. This all took place right in the Bible Belt.
I had been told that I had been brainwashed. I was forced to take Bible lessons from a cult(JW) of which I did not believe. Yet as a 17 year old I felt that I must honor my father and mother even though I did not feel this way. It was a masquerade every week.
Every single thing that her father has said points in a direction of abuse wheither it be mental or physical abuse.
The only advise that I can give her is that there is no promise land unless we go though the desert.
She is in my prayers. - Save RifqaYea right her father is not a strong Muslim. Did you morons not notice how the mother was dressed. If this girl is sent back she will be dead and gone with in the year. Templar for Ever !
- Hi Jeff
Sri Lanka first of all is not a Muslim country run by Sharia law, it is a Buddhist country. As a matter of fact, I am also a Sri Lankan and I was also a Muslim before and I converted to Christianity as well. But I have told my parents and only thing was they were mad but they didnt threaten me. If this girl's father is not a strong Muslim, she has no worries and from the sound of it, the girl's father doesnt sound like a strong muslim if he allows his daughter to wear short skirts. She will not have any worries even if she was sent to Sri Lanka because it is not a Muslim country and no honor killing happens there as well. But she may have to be careful of her other family members though like her aunts or uncles. - Totally wrong infoSri Lanka is a buddist country and there's no sharia law there and not ven a single "honour killing" has been taken place..its clear girl has been coached and possibly brainwashed from the way she talks..
- Open you eyesDon't you mean open "your" eyes? In the first place it's quite apparent to me that this girl has lived in the U.S. for quite some time because she has a totally American accent. I doubt she remembers much about Sri Lanka. Also I find it hard to believe that her father is this overbearing strict Muslim while at the same time allows his daughter to be a cheerleader, wear short skirts, and wag her ass in front of everyone. I too watched the video and I can tell that she was reciting a script. I don't really buy her story. And I don't think she really buys it either. I think it's amazing that everyone has this absolute hatred for this girl's family without even bothering to contact them and see if any of this has any validity. Not to mention that when a young girl runs away from home and goes to live with total strangers, she is placing herself in a lot of danger. If she felt her parents were so evil, why not go to CPS and tell them all this? Why run off to Florida to live with people who she met on Facebook? And is a Christian cult any better than an Islamic cult? What about all the weirdos in this country who prey on young girls and murder them? Is that death preferable to an honor killing? She's damn lucky she didn't get murdered by all of our home grown weirdos while she was on her way to Florida. Also why would this couple she's staying with go off on vacation during this rather odd scenario? Excuse me if I don't think this girl is a total dingbat.
- Open you eyesAnonymous said that any parent would put a child's care before their belief. Is that why they kill daughters that behave in unislamic ways? To Adam - you call this church in Florida a cult, what do you call Islam? Islam prescribes death to those that leave the faith, places no value on the life of "unbelievers" and permits lying to futher the aims of that so-called religion. I hope and pray that this case will be tied up in court at least until this young girl has her next birthday.
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http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4102781&page=1 - The girl is speaking the truthIn countries run by Shari'a law, a Muslim converting to Christianity is a capital crime punishable by death. This is nothing new. The father is lying. The girl knows what she is talking about. Muslims who become Christians are usually threatened by their families, and disowned by their families. This father knows how naive many Americans are concerning this, and is using that to his advantage.
Believe whatever you want, but its a historical fact, and has happened many times. This is the first time I've heard of such threats occurring in the U.S., however. - Christian Converti
- This should be considered kidnapping. Any parent would put a child's care before their belief. In Islam there is no reason for this girl to be put in harms way. We do not believe in honor killings. That is cultural beliefs. Which I think are considered one when they are two different things. They do have some similarities but they are not the same.
- Christian ConvertThis so-called Christian group that "converted" this young girl is nothing more than a cult. The girl should be de-programmed and sent back to her parents......or this is an elaborate scheme to stay in the US and get fast easy citizenship.
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