Plan Calls for Teen Christian Convert, Muslim Parents to Talk About Religion

Stacy Lunsford
December 2, 2009
Sociology 313-003
Instructor: Colin Olson
Blog Post #8

Plan Calls for Teen Christian Convert, Muslim Parents to Talk About Religion

A Muslim teen girl who converted to Christianity made the news when she ran away should talk to her parents when they are reunited, says a proposal filed in Ohio. A government caseworker came up with a plan for the girl and her parents to listen to each others views on religion. According to a proposal filed in Franklin County Juvenile Court, the teen girl needs to hear her parents explanation about their beliefs while her parents must do the same for her new Christian beliefs when she returns home. The main goal is for both sides to better understand why the young girl ran to Florida to stay with a Christian family that she met online. The teen said she feared her father would kill her if she converted from Islam to another religion. Her father denied this statement. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said they found no threats toward the girl. This plan leaves open the idea that the girl might never return home. The teenager was sent back to Ohio last month, where the county children's services agency took over her care. A judge ruled to limit her phone and Internet usage be monitored. The teen girl disappeared in July, she was tracked down when the police used phone and computer records to track her to the Florida family that she met online.

Citation:
http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story

I think one of the things that really bothered me about this article is that a judge limited her phone and Internet usage after she was found. I think that was a form of social control, I think that she is being punished for having a different religion than her parents. I can see how sitting down with her parents and discussing their different belief systems might be good in order to learn how to live under one roof with vastly different beliefs, but to have a judge rule to monitor her cell phone and Internet usage went too far. I think the parents are frightened because they may not know how to deal with someone of a different belief system under their roof. Since the daughter is now into Christianity, they are losing more control over her and perhaps keeping an eye on her Internet usage and cell phone might be a way from keeping her from straying too far.