Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Speaking of Asylum for Converts to Christianity:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_08_09-2009_08_15.shtml#1250081357
The [1]Orlando Sentinel writes:
The girl, who turned 17 on Monday, is at the center of a custody
dispute in Orlando, where she sought help from a family she barely
knew -- a pastor and his wife [the Lorenzes] willing to take in a
teen who feared her own family's retribution because she converted
to Christianity....
The girl appeared before a crowded courtroom full of lawyers and
spectators on Monday when an Orange Circuit Court Judge ordered her
into Department of Children and Families emergency custody....
Her dispute with her family became news several weeks ago when the
girl ran away from her home in Columbus, Ohio.... The teen told the
Lorenzes she feared her family would hurt her, kill her or send her
back to Sri Lanka, Beverly Lorenz said....
Reached by a Sentinel reporter by phone, the girl's mother said
little. "Yes, of course" her daughter would be safe should a judge
eventually order her back there, she said.
And her father would not harm his daughter if she wanted to be a
Christian, the woman said....
More [2]here:
An attorney representing the girl's mother said the parents were
allowing Bary to explore her Christianity. The parents claimed that
their daughter was not afraid until she made contact with Pastor
Blake Lorenz in Orlando....
It seems to me the law is clear: If a judge finds that there is real
danger of serious violence from the parents -- whether stemming from
religious tensions or anything else -- then the minor may indeed be
placed into state custody and from there into a foster home. Naturally
a judge can't just presume this based on generalizations about Islamic
attitudes towards apostasy: There would have to be credible evidence
of specific threats, or actual instances of physical abuse, and the
judge would presumably listen to the child, the parents, and any other
witnesses, and decide, difficult as the she said/they said factual
question might be.
References
1.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-ohio-teen-convert-custody-dispute-081009%2C0%2C4993216.story
2.
http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2009/08/11/story_teen.html?sid=102
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