An Open Letter to Judge Daniel Dawson Regarding the Rifqa Bary Case
Submitted by Herbert London on Wed, 09/02/2009 - 11:23
Printer-friendly version
Send to friend
PDF version
By: Herbert London
The Honorable Judge Daniel Dawson
Justice Center
2000 E. Michigan Street
Orlando, FL 32806-4941
To The Honorable Judge Dawson:
The First Amendment speaks plainly and directly. Citizens of the United States are free to pursue their religious beliefs or, if they so choose, are free to ignore religious belief. That freedom is embedded in our way of life; it is not coincidental that religious liberty is mentioned before freedom of speech and assembly. Moreover, the Constitution makes transparently clear that an established church will not exist in this nation.
I state the obvious because as George Orwell noted at a moment of confusion the first duty of intelligent people is the restatement of the obvious.You, sir, are obliged to consider the case of Rifqa Bary, a young woman from Ohio, who left her Muslim faith and converted to Christianity. Such conversion is common practice in the United States and is doubtless a matter of personal conviction.
However, in Ms. Bary’s case her conversion has put her life at risk. Apostasy is regarded as a capital offense in the Koran to be punished by death. Should you rule that family unification trumps religious freedom, there is the possibility Rifqa will be returned to her country of origin to face her imminent demise.
Recognizing this likely fate, she ran away from her Ohio home and parents hoping that the Constitution in her adopted country would serve as protection. That, of course, may not be the case; which, in my judgment, would not only be a tragedy for Rifqa, but a tragedy for America.
Our common law history does not impose or allow for the imposition of Sharia in the land of the free. The founders understand the need for the separation of Church and State, notwithstanding the role religion plays as a guiding hand in state related matters. But they could not and would not countenance the integration of the two as demanded by Islam.
As a consequence, this case involves more than one youthful life; it represents a defense of our Constitution and our way of life. Just as a Christian can covert to Islam; a Muslim should be free to covert to Christianity whatever her parents think and whatever the Koran indicates.
To suggest anything else is to allow Islam to be superordinated over our law and tradition. If there was ever a time to assert our beliefs and customs, this is it. Americans are increasingly unsure about what this nation stands for. But there really isn’t ambiguity about this matter. Sharia is not our custom or our law and you, sir, should not recognize it as dispositive in your legal judgment.
Rifqa’s cause should prevail because this recent immigrant is fighting for the most basic of American principles. She is our Joan of Arc and I ardently hope you will recognize the need to assert traditional jurisprudential precedent in this case.
Sincerely,
Herbert I. London
President
Hudson Institute
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Herbert London is president of Hudson Institute and professor emeritus of New YorkUniversity. He is the author of Decade of Denial (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2001) and America's Secular Challenge (Encounter Books).
My supports are there for
My supports are there for this cause.
Hi dears, Have u guys heard
Hi dears, Have u guys heard about the famous Shah Bano case(Regarding alimony in a divorce case) Of 1985 in India?. Though slightly out of context to the post,the judges of the supreme court of India did not blink first. As usual the congress party though having 3/4ths majority in the Indian parliament blinked due to vote bank politics. It left our muslim sisters less protected by the law of the land. To get more details about this joke on humanity PLEASE,PLEASE go through these links. http://homepages.uc.edu/thro/shahbano/allshahbano.htm (FOR A DETAILED PERSPECTIVE) & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shah_Bano_case (FOR PEOPLE IN A HURRY)
Comments please.
The Underground Railroad has
The Underground Railroad has come back full steam ahead.
My support for Rifqa Bary
My support for Rifqa Bary too.
She should be protected.
She should be protected. There should be a law that any muslim girl who wants to save herself from abusive family or husband should be protected and necessary money be charged from parents or husband.
Cheers to freedom. End to barbarism.
Krishna786, So the high
Krishna786,
So the high court granted Shah Bano with her 5 children alimony. But Rajiv Gandhi's government and party tried to appease the Muslims who strongly protested. Now the rights of Muslim Women in India are lower guaranteed than the rights of other women, yes? Or, it is the state that now has to provide for divorced Islamic women and their children, because the husband has to pay only 1 substantial sum and then is free from payment?
One reaction could be: Tell young Muslima's this and warn them what they get into when they marry Muslims. Or if they allow themselves to be married to Muslims by their parents. Tell them to consider well, also about the future decision of getting children. Tell them to try to get a good education, so they will be able to provide for themselves. And be dependent on men as less/ little as possible. To trust all men to do good by their women when in power is highly naive, the woman being in love or not. (And I am a man).
Dependency of women on men for income, due to not working, having no working skills, can be very disadvantageous for women. And girls should be made aware of this everywhere. I know that in Holland, the Moroccan girls were aware of this in large part. Because there were articles in papers and magazines that many of them were torn between their loyalty to Islam (and hence they wanted Islamic Husbands) and their desire for independence and happiness. But the Moroccan boys in majority were perceived to be too dominant, oppressive, so many Moroccan girls said they did not want to marry them. So many Moroccan boys had to find brides in Morocco or stay single. And the girls often went to dating sites, searching for liberal Muslims, also many stayed single.
In the end, when Muslima's are being informed well, and are also held accountable, we can point out to them that when they deliver themselves totally over to husbands and in-laws, in part they themselves too are to blame when that husband abuses them or divorces them, without alimony for themselves and children, leaving them nothing but welfare.
In a way, if Muslima's get to know the world, the truth, then every time a Muslim Husband treats his wife in and after marriage, that could be to the disadvantage of Islam, because victims tend to turn against their abusers AND the religion they hold, which was so detrimental to them. In fact it seems a great way to go to go for worldwide autonomy of women as a fair, passionate goal. And those women who voluntarily subordinate themselves to men should face the consequences of their decision, for themselves and other women.
But there is so much I don't know, so I can't be sure.
Oh, I meant to say when
Oh, I meant to say when Muslim Husbands do treat their wives, in and after marriages in a bad way.
Mr. London - Very well
Mr. London -
Very well stated. Thanks for standing up before the US turns into Europe.
Dear Demsci,
Dear Demsci,
The bill passed to protect muslim women is generally believed to be a watered down version & amounts to nothing at the ground level.Mr. Rajiv Gandhi though a visionary became a politician when it concerned religion. The muslims in India unfortunately don't have a strong & moderate leadership. I feel the same story is repeated all over the world.
Every Indian would have faced some amount of discrimination in his life in India due to his caste,creed,region,state,language........... & lastly religion.So if any Indian cry s that he has been discriminated,just move on & don't give him a second glance,it is our way of life. But with good education this tendency is frowned upon.Anyways it would take ages to get over all these. take care.
I am hoping that this can
I am hoping that this can get to the judge Don Dawson in Orlando, Fl. if I knew if he had a email addy I would send this to him so he can see what the girl Rifqa Bary is saying, is what could happen to her.
PLEASE DO NOT LOOK AT THIS IF YOU HAVE A WEAK SROMACH, IT IS GRUESOME!!!!
ANY ONE KNOWING HOW TO GET THIS TO THE JUDGE PLEASE DO SO.
ANYONE KNOWING HOW TO GET
ANYONE KNOWING HOW TO GET THIS TO THE JUDGE PLEASE DO SO !!!!
P;EASE DO NOT LOOK AT THIS IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH !!!!!! IT IS REALLY GROSS TO SEE WHAT THEY DO IF YOU CHANGE YOUR RELIGION.
http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/muslim-child-and-friends-...
http://www.truthtube.tv/play.php?vid=1862
http://www.truthtube.tv/play.php?vid=459
http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/beheadings-r-us/
ANYONE KNOWING HOW TO GET
ANYONE KNOWING HOW TO GET THIS TO JUDGE DON DAWSON, PLEASE DO IT. THIS IS VERY GRUESOME, PLEASE DO NOT LOOK AT IT, IT IS VERY GROSS, BUT IT COULD HELP THE JUDGE TO NOT SEND RIGQA BARY BACK TO HER PARENTS, HER LIFE WILL BE IN DANGER !!!
http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/muslim-child-and-friends-...
http://www.truthtube.tv/play.php?vid=1862
http://www.truthtube.tv/play.php?vid=459
http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/beheadings-r-us/