The story of 17-year-old Christian (formerly Muslim) convert Fathima Rifqa Bary is far from over according to the Orlando Sentinel, as she is getting surgery for cancer and will need several rounds of chemotherapy afterwards.

Rifqa Bary

Last year Bary converted to Christianity, then fled to Florida because she was afraid her parents or people from their mosque would kill her.

Now she is back in Ohio due to a court order, but lives with a foster family.

Even as her parents continue the court battle over how she should be raised, Bary has had two surgeries for cancer, and will undergo a third operation on Thursday, the Orlando Sentinel said.

While she was in the hospital, Bary’s estranged Muslim parents Mohamed and Aysha Bary were allowed to go to her hospital room without her permission, according to OneNewsNow.

“I don’t know if it was her attorney, her case worker, [but] somebody made the decision to bring her parents into the room to see her without her permission,” said Jamal Jivanjee, director of the Florida-based ministry, Illuminate, “and that caused her a lot of emotional turmoil and stress, and she objected to that and they had to get them out of there,” according to OneNewsNow.

In August last year Bary said, “If I had stayed in Ohio, I wouldn’t be alive. In 150 generations in my family, no one has known Jesus.  I am the first — imagine the honor in killing me,” FoxNews.com reported.

Bary fled to Florida on a bus last July after her parents learned that she was baptized in early 2009 without their knowledge. Weeks later, using cell phone and computer records, police tracked her to the home of Rev. Blake Lorenz, pastor of the Orlando-based Global Revolution Church, and his wife Beverly.  An Orange-Osceola judge ordered Bary back to Ohio in October last year, according to FoxNews.com.

Bary suffers from an aggressive form of uterine cancer.  Her doctors initially considered a complete hysterectomy, but are hoping that won’t be necessary.  The full extent of her condition will be known after her operation on Thursday, FoxNews.com said.

Fathima said that she would like to continue to stay with her foster family in Columbus.  She turns 18 on August 10 and as an adult, her court battles with her father should end, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

However, when she turns 18 she will lose her health care and may face problems with her immigration status for being in the United States illegally.  She may be deported back to Sri Lanka, FoxNews.com said.

Jivanjee said, “We’re praying that somehow she’ll be granted asylum.”  He added that with Bary’s immigration status still up in the air, and the prospect of extensive medical treatment, she is obviously scared right now, OneNewsNow reported.

Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia—the world’s largest Christian university–announced recently that they have formed a committee to investigate the background of their seminary president Ergun Caner, the Washington Post reported.

Liberty University is investigating its seminary president, Ergun Caner over allegations that he's not the ex-Muslim he passed himself off to be.

The investigating committee will be headed by Liberty university administrator Ron Godwin.

Findings will be released by June 30.  Ergun Caner distinguished himself as a Muslim expert and is a popular speaker in the university lecture circuit.

Since he became president, he has tripled enrolment in the school that was owned by the late Jerry Falwell, Sr., according to Christianity Today (CT).

The CT said that among the claims that Caner made which have been brought to question are:

• That he grew up in Turkey (when he actually grew up in Ohio).
• That he was raised in a devout Sunni Muslim home (rather than a nominal one).
• That he had been involved in Islamic jihad.
• That he has debated dozens of Muslims about the Islamic faith.  (There is no video or audio evidence).

Caner’s reputation came to task when Mohammed Khan, a 22 year old London based Muslim, posted 17 of Caner’s speeches on YouTube.  Khan interjected portions of the speeches with his own commentary.  Among others, Khan said that several times when Caner claimed to be reciting the Shehada, (part of the Islamic creed), he was actually quoting a prayer from the Qur’an, which Khan said is very different.  Khan disputed Caner’s claim to be an Islamic expert.

This set off a rash of bloggers who commented on the issue.  Christianity Today quoted several bloggers including the following:
Debbie Kaufman, an Enid, Oklahoma Southern Baptist laywoman, who said, “This matters because we are to win people to Christ.”
Gene Clyatt, a Southern Baptist pastor in Superior, Montana, questioned Caner’s claim that he was trained as a jihadist until the age of 15.  In Ergun’s book, Unveiling Islam which he co-wrote with his brother Emir, he said that his parents married in Sweden and the family moved to Ohio when he was a young boy.

In the book the brothers said they recited daily prayers, visited the mosque weekly, and read the Qur’an and Hadith regularly.  They said they were raised to be devout, serious Muslims.

James R. White, director of the Phoenix-based Alpha & Omega Ministries, said “The president of a large theological seminary has created a myth concerning his background that is incredibly self-contradictory.”  White teaches Islam at golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.

Sympathy

Some bloggers however expressed sympathy for Caner.

Hussein Wario, also a former Sunni Muslim who converted to Christianity, noted that while Caner had co-authored 17 books, it is only now that he is being criticized because of Khan’s videos.

Wario also said in his blog, Cracks in the Crescent, “I am a Reformed Christian and I am utterly ashamed of Dr. White. In my opinion, he is a disgrace to the Reformed faith—sola scriptura—because of his meddling in this matter and his disregard of the scripture. He is tacitly helping Muslims with their war against Muslim converts to Christianity.”

Roy J. Oksnevad, director of Muslim Ministries at Wheaton College said that the American church tends to pressure ex-Muslims to talk very negatively about their former faith.

Repent

Tom Chantry, on the Christ Reformed Baptist Church blog, suggested repentance on the part of Caner and Liberty University.  Chantry said in his blog that while it is difficult to make restitution in cases of deceit, it can be done, and that Caner can apologize and seek forgiveness.

However Liberty University must do the same, Chantry said, noting that the institution had benefitted from the celebrity culture of Evangelical Christianity and if they had instead put their focus on the Word of God, this may have been prevented.

This year Christians throughout the United States will be celebrating Earth Day through a live simulcast nationwide, through documentaries, lectures and seminars on God’s creation and man’s stewardship of the earth.

Earth Day, slated for April 22, is intended to raise awareness and appreciation for the environment.

Now on its 40^th year, Earth Day is said to be founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson.  However its concept originated from Pentecostal minister John McConnell Jr, 95, who told the Assemblies of God (AG) Heritage magazine that he first proposed Earth Day in 1969 to promote peace and unity.  He wanted it to be held in late March at the start of spring.

McConnell said he submitted his proposal for Earth Day to San Francisco city officials on Oct. 3, 1969.  The first governmental recognition of Earth Day was held March 21, 1970 supported by Congress and the United Nations.

However, it was moved by Sen. Nelson to April 22 because he had scheduled a political protest called Environmental Teach-In Day.

McConnell’s biographer, Robert Weir, said Nelson admitted that he got the idea for Earth Day from others, but he did not specify from whom. In time, he began to publicly claim full credit for Earth Day.

Christians have commonly neglected to celebrate Earth Day as it was deemed to be identified with left leaning environmentalism and implied nature worship.

However now they see Earth Day as a time to renew their stewardship of God’s gift of creation, celebrate God and to witness their faith to others.

McConnell said, “We love God … [and therefore should] have an appreciation for His creation.”

A study in 2008 by the Barna Group, a religious research organization, found that 78 percent of self-identified Christians would like to see their fellow Christians take a more active role in caring for the earth.

Some of the things that Christians are doing on Earth Day include:

• Northland, A Church Distributed in Longwood, Fla. will hold a simulcast on April 21 that organizers say will be the largest ever faith-based gathering involving Earth Day, drawing thousands of churches.
• Blessed Earth, founded three years ago by Dr. Matthew Sleeth of Wilmore, Ky, has organized hundreds of churches for “Hope for Creation: A Live Simulcast Event,” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.  Sleeth is the author of “Serve God and Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action.”  Since its founding, Blessed Earth has produced a 12-film series on the Bible and the environment.
• St. Monica-St. George Parish Newman Center in Ohio will hold its annual “Thomas Merton Year,” from April 25-May 7 with the talk, “Meeting Merton Again for the First Time: Contemplative Ecologist, Ecological Prophet.”  Merton was a 20th-century Catholic monk in Gethsemani, Ky.  The talk is presented by Sister Kathleen Deignan, a GreenFaith Fellow with training in religious environmental leadership.  She wrote the books, “When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature” and “Thomas Merton: A Book of Hours.”