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What’s Wrong with the World is dedicated to the defense of what remains of Christendom, the civilization made by the men of the Cross of Christ. Athwart two hostile Powers we stand: the Jihad and Liberalism...read more

Mark Steyn makes a good, and shocking, point

I've been following, with a kind of horrified paralysis, the case of Meriam Ibrahim, sentenced to 100 lashes on a trumped-up charge of "adultery" and to be hung for the crime of being a Christian.

In an all-too-real case that sounds like something straight out of Roman history, Meriam was asked to deny her Christianity, refused, and was sentenced to death by the government of Sudan. The 100 lash sentence has been handed down because she married a Christian, a marriage the Sudanese government does not recognize because it deems Meriam to be a Muslim. Hence, her relations with her Christian, American husband are deemed sexual sin.

Meriam has a twenty-month-old child and is eight months' pregnant. She will be allowed to bear her baby and then, presumably, horribly lashed and hung. Or maybe if her wicked persecutors are feeling kind, they'll just hang her instead.

Meriam's husband, Daniel Wani, is a naturalized American citizen as of ten years ago, resident in New Hampshire for seventeen years.

Mark Steyn points out, what I had not realized, that the reason that Meriam was at the tender mercies of her Muslim brother, who "turned her in" for marrying a Christian, and of the evil Sudanese government was because she and Daniel were following the rules and trying to get her into the U.S. legally as Daniel's spouse. Because the wheels of immigration grind exceeding slowly, she was still waiting around for a spousal visa, and now she is locked in a Sudanese prison with her (American citizen) toddler and a child in the womb, facing horror and death.

Steyn is on a roll:

"The process is complicated and not certain": There's another epitaph for the republic.

Since that boils down "The bureaucracy makes it up as it goes along", the question: what should they be prevailed upon to make up next? My senator, Kelly Ayotte, has called on John Kerry to grant Mrs Wani political asylum, as soon as he's finished boring college graduates into the ground with his ecopalyptic doom-mongering.

On Saturday, President Obama issued a Tweet in observance of International Anti-Homophobia Day:

"No one should face violence or discrimination—no matter who they are or whom they love." —President Obama

Fine words, but, as is often the case with this man, utterly empty. An American citizen is about to have his life ruined because of "whom they love". Daniel Wani suffered discrimination from the US Government because he fell in love with Meriam Ibrahim. And, because of that discrimination, he now faces violence from the Sudanese Government, which presently has his entire family - his wife and unborn child, and his two-year-old son - shackled in Khartoum. After Meriam gives birth, she will be hanged, and Daniel, because he has committed the crime of being a Christian, will never see his children again.

Those children are American citizens, and this is not a Sudanese news story but an American one.

The man has a point.

We Christians must earnestly pray for Meriam Ibrahim. If she dies for refusing to renounce her faith, she will die a martyr for Christ, but we should pray that, if it be the Lord's will, that cup will pass from her, her husband, and her little children. May they be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, not in an evil and cruel religion that murdered their mother.

Comments (13)

Natural-*conceived*, unalienable membership in the Satanic cult that is Islam strikes again claiming several more victims. Surprise, surprise. And so much for all the disingenuous liberal advocacy of birthright citizenship (and all the priveleges and immunities it supposedly entails) for the children of aliens and foreigners and Americans alike (particular emphasis on aliens and foreigners).

The story is horrifying! Best case scenario, assuming the barbaric sentence is carried out while the U.S. essentially ignores it, is that it *should* serve as a good lesson for those Americans - natural born or naturalized - inclined to seek a spouse from a pool including natural-conceived, apostate Muslims. But I should think it won't.

This woman is a Christian. It would be both ludicrous and cruel to blame her husband for marrying her because her evil government regards her as a Muslim. We, as Christians, do not buy into that sort of "once a Muslim, always a Muslim" nonsense. And to make it even more untenable, she was raised as a Christian from childhood upwards.

Now, I suppose that I can see a purely prudential argument against marrying and conceiving children until one can get the other person out of the power of such an evil government. The marriage might need to be kept secret somehow, except from the relevant American authorities, until one's wife was safe, and that could be very difficult to do. But under no circumstances will I agree with anything remotely like blaming my Sudanese sister in Christ for being born to a Muslim father.

Oh! I *thought* you wrote that she converted to Christianity, or that was the impression I got anyhow. My mistake. Sorry.

In any event I wasn't blaming her in my little rant, and I regret that you took it that way. In point of fact I wasn't even blaming her mother since I don't know enough yet about her situation and her background to lay blame at anyone's feet except the evil empire that is Islam, and of course her informant brother.

And of course we don't buy into the idiotic "once a Muslim always a Muslim" ... crap (pardon my French, but that's what it is), which was the point of my mocking the whole notion with the "natural-conceived Muslim" language.

But, yes, I agree that prudence dictates that if you're going to marry and have children by someone who comes from a Muslim background, then you'd better take into serious consideration what that portends; that although we don't buy into Islamic nonsense, *they do*. I would go further and say that that being the case, your best bet would be to change your identity and move to a remote, far away place where the chances of them ever finding you are slim to none.

I have read that her father converted from Islam when she was a child, though another story referred to her as being raised in Christianity by her mother.

Yes, it's an odd thought that a person does have a slightly better chance of coming to the U.S. if married to an American citizen, but that very marriage could have dire consequences in the country of origin if one doesn't get out fast enough, as in this case. I suppose it isn't likely to work better for the prospective spouse to come to the U.S. _first_ and only _subsequently_ get married, once here.

It seems that there ought to be some better and more streamlined way for our immigration to work for those who are following the rules, especially in a case like this where the prospective immigrant (Meriam) is not remotely a threat to the U.S. and is likely to be a good citizen. Meanwhile, as Steyn notes, we're looking to reward those who come here _without_ following the rules.

What a perfect opportunity for lunatic muslims to torture and whack an American and a Christian--simultaneously. I think the Sudanese government are as eager to torture an American by inducing the death of his wife as they are to brutally murdering Miriam for remaining Christian and rejecting Islam. If her marriage isn't recognized how are her children perceived and what becomes of them?

And Obama's reaction with "utterly empty words" in this case and others has been grimly noted by Kevin Williamson at NRO. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/378523/victim-presidency-kevin-d-williamson

I'll be sure to pray for the Miriam and Daniel Wani, Lydia. Thank you for this story--I'm sure it was as painful to write as it is surreal to read.

Oh! I *thought* you wrote that she converted to Christianity, or that was the impression I got anyhow. My mistake. Sorry.

That still isn't relevant, Terry. As a human being, she has a right to decide, as an adult, what her religious beliefs will be. The theocratic government in the Sudan is violating her human rights, imprisoning her and planning to torture and kill her. This is an horrific crime on their part, and it would be no less an horrific crime if she had decided, a few weeks ago, that she wanted to worship and live as a Christian.

(If it's not clear, I'm using the term "right" here to mean a human right, and the term "crime" to mean a crime against humanity. The specific laws in the Sudan are not what I'm referencing with those terms.)

I don't think Terry was saying it made a difference, merely that he had not known what the actual situation was. I misjudged Terry myself once in this thread, so I want to speak out on his behalf here.

It amazes me how we can blow up half a village with a drone in the chance the that intelligence community was right and Mr. Terrorist of the Hour was there, but we cannot threaten to even blow up a few Sudanese oil fields if they don't immediately release these US citizens.

I'm with you, Mike. There have to be at least a few influential Sudanese businessmen or diplomats whose assets could be frozen.

The second U.S. citizen has been born. That is to say, Meriam had her baby, a little girl. Word is that she will be allowed to nurse the baby in prison for two years before the sentence is carried out. They probably hope we'll all forget about her by then and they can quietly lash and hang her.

I hear we give boatloads of foreign aid to the Sudan. Hello?

Y'know, I think I should really learn to exercise a lot more self-restraint when it comes to posts like this one in particular, and just keep my smart-*ss comments to myself.

Yes, Lydia is right that I wasn't saying it matters whether this unfortunate woman - Meriam - (and her family by extension) converted to Christianity or was raised a Christian. My point, in my initial post, was ... well, there really wasn't much of a point to it other than to mock the evil stupidity that is Islam. Thanks to Lydia in defending me in that I *wasn't* mocking Meriam.

I don't think I can exactly 'go along' with Phil's "adult human rights" argument. After all, Meriam's oppressors/killers are themselves "adults," and "humans." But, perhaps, that's a subject for a different day.

I don't think I can exactly 'go along' with Phil's "adult human rights" argument. After all, Meriam's oppressors/killers are themselves "adults," and "humans." But, perhaps, that's a subject for a different day.

I'm not sure how you're interpreting what I wrote, but it sounds like you're interpreting it wrongly. The notion that human rights exist does not therefore mean that "anything that an adult human decides to do is licit." I simply meant that

The U. S. State Department and the Homeland Security Department takes a long time, and puts up many roadblocks in the way of those seekning to bring a spouse or fiancee into the States. I wish they were equally diligent in deporting those who have illegally entered the United States.

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