Protesters support dad in fight against DHS [Michigan]

the Arab American News ^ | recently (not specified) | Khalil AlHajal

[ColdWarNavyVet_dirsup]

Protesters support dad in fight against DHS

By: Khalil AlHajal / The Arab American News

Taylor — Protesters picketed outside of the Western Wayne County Children and Family Services office on Friday, in an effort to bring attention to a federal lawsuit filed by a Jordanian American man in January.

Plaintiff Abraham Ben-Abbad filed the suit against the Michigan Department of Human Services claiming that officials have denied him court-ordered visitation rights with his daughter.

He also alleges that the Department has allowed his ex-wife to involve a local church in official decision-making processes, preventing the 13 year old girl from seeing her father and being exposed to her Muslim heritage.

Parents for Children, a group that advocates throughout the state for parents who have been stripped of custody of their children, organized the demonstration.

"We just want to get our message out… to let them know that we're not going away," said Parents for Children founder Dan Wilson.

The group claims to have influenced cases in the past by demonstrating in front of courthouses and offices in several Michigan counties.

Wilson said that Friday's protest was particularly dramatic because it involves "Muslims and Christians marching together for a cause."

Attorney Janet Frederick-Wilson, also of Parents for Children, said that the actions of government agents involved in the case were probably more motivated by money than by religious issues. The group claims that grants awarded to agencies and performance bonuses awarded to Children's Protection agents cause them to "twist facts and blow situations out of proportion."

"They target minorities because they often have the least resources to fight them with… and they take advantage of cases with divorce issues and domestic discord."

Ben-Abbad's ex-wife has accused him of abuse.

Islam Kayed, the child's stepmother, who picketed in freezing temperatures along with about 25 others from local mosques and Parents for Children, said that they would "do whatever it takes to get the point across."

"Her father loves her so much and we just want her to come home," she said about the girl.

Department of Human Services representatives haven't commented on the protest as of press time. In the past when asked about the lawsuit, a spokesperson has said that though she could not comment on the specifics of the litigation, "any issues of religious preference are taken seriously by the Department and by our Children's Services staff," and that agencies are required to take into account the religions of both parents of a child.

Ben-Abbad and others have also distributed flyers "warning" local Muslims about the involved church, the Dearborn Assembly of God, accusing its lead pastor, Trey Hancock, of engaging in manipulative, overzealous, youth-targeted missionary tactics.

Some at the demonstration gave detailed accounts of the Hancock family and church members "drawing in people in weak positions," and being "sneaky" about their intentions of converting Muslims.

Hancock has declined to comment on any of the allegations.

An acquaintance of Hancock who asked to be referred to only as Abu Wadea, defended the church and the Hancock family, saying that though the church conducts outreach programs and was established for the purpose of missionary work, the congregation is not disrespectful toward Islam and involves many Muslims in programs such as English classes without asking anything in return.

He also said that Hancock is not deceitful in his goals, that "he is a pastor and everybody knows it," and that he is upfront about wanting to spread his message.

Abu Wadea, a member of the Arabic Evangelical Alliance Church in Madison Heights, said that he takes offense to some having labeled the Dearborn Assembly of God as anti-Muslim.

"I'm not going to defend whatever the church did in this case but to blanket the whole church or the whole community is a whole different thing."

[Darkwolf377]

You won't find much support in the Christian community for wife-beating. It happens, but it's not given sanction by any Christian Church that I know of. Now tell me the same is true of mosques, and islam.

I'm sure the women being beaten by Christian men take comfort in that. "Hey, this doesn't hurt so bad, because the church doesn't approve!"

The distinction is a small one when we get down to the individual cases like this one.

People around here mention that Islam means "submission," yet seem to forget that the Bible says wives should be "submissive" to their husbands.

[tkathy]

There is no moral equivilence between Christianity and Islam whatsoever. The Christian community has long since ignored the old testament silliness.

[Larry Lucido]

I didn't think that was the original title.

"Protesters support dad in fight against DHS"

Not saying your editorial comment was wrong. Just pointing out that the headline was changed.

[Darkwolf377]

I know. I wasn't making any moral equivalence--that's what someone else accused me of.

[Larry Lucido]

You all need to lay off of Darkwolf. He has a point. While I personally DO start with a prejudice against the father, take out "muslim" and this thread immediately becomes a 500 post thread about father's rights.

[brent1a]

I live in a small cornfield town in mid-Illinois and Let me tell you, I thought all Christian churches support and teach "corrective punishment" of our wives and female children. I remember the other day when my daughter came home from the mall and she admitted that she had looked at a boy, in passing. I immediately beat her until she was unconscious. It was for her own good. I think all religions should convert to Shariah Law and we should abolish the Constitution because it just makes since. Islam has so much more Moral Aptitude than Islam anyway.

[Beckwith]

Well, somebody got it!

[YOUGOTIT]

Is that not part of his religion to beat and if he thinks it necessary to kill his children and wife? And who are the idiots that are supporting him are they also wife beaters and child molesters?

If he beat his wife why is he not in jail?

This stinks, but since he is a Muslim what do you think will happen? Me thinks nothing.

[EmilyGeiger]

I wonder how many death threats the youth minister has received.

[YOUGOTIT]

Or did he want to do his Clitoridectomy on the child?

[Hardastarboard]

After this incident, the answer to the incriminatory question "Have you stopped beating your wife?" will be "How dare you question my religious beliefs?".

[Sidebar Moderator]

Changing article headlines is forbidden.

[Beckwith]

For the morally equivalent among us, show me where any Christian, Jewish, Hindu or Buddhist religion has, not only an official position on beating wives but also the secondary status of women being just above slaves (remember, it's cool in Islam to keep slaves).

The exhortation to beat the disobedient wife is not an aberration, oddity, disjointed concept, or stand alone element, in Islam’s positioning of females, rather, the command to beat disobedient wives is founded upon a woman’s subservient / secondary status in Islam. You cannot separate the issue of wife beating apart from the context of her inferior position in the marriage relationship.

To fully comprehend the issue of Islamic wife beating her position with respect to her husband must be first understood. Wife beating is allowed because of the lower position she occupies. A person with a severe virus may run a high fever. While the fever can be quite a grave problem it is actually a symptom of another sickness at work. Wife beating is a symptom of the wife’s degraded status in Islam. Beyond the right of husbands to beat their disobedient wives, there is a deeper, more pernicious, disease at work. Wife beating is merely the bad fruit of a bad root. Once this element is understood the rationale behind Muhammad’s command to beat disobedient wives comes into focus and fits in its proper place.

When I first began to study the topic, I did not realize that an Islamic marriage is not equivalent to a Christian marriage. Its rules, roles, and requirements are quite different. In a Christian marriage, the husband is given the role as head of the household, and the wife is expected to submit to the husband’s leadership. However, she is his equal in terms of social and religious status; she is not inferior to him. In Islam, the husband is the custodian of his wife. She is considered to be in-between slave and free. The woman is managed and controlled. The relationship between a married woman and her husband is similar to the relationship between parents and children. Parents have a responsible custody of their children and expect their obedience. When children are disobedient they are disciplined and sometimes spanked. Muhammad’s viewpoint of women was that they lack self-control, and thus for their own good, and societies’ good, they must be subordinate to their husbands. They must obey. Although an adult women is more mature and capable than a child she is still not equal to a man; thus is subject to him. Islam teaches that men are superior to women. When a man gives his bride a dowry, he is accredited the right to manage his wife. By accepting his dowry, a woman is giving her husband the right to her regulation.

http://www.answering-islam.de/Main/Silas/wife-beating.htm

No question, there are Christian men who beat their wives but they don't do it at the urging of the Bible.

[ClaireSolt]

Anything that brings attention to the unregulated abuses of CPS is good. I was complaining about how they were harassing three professional families on my street in the 80's in MO. An elderly sociologist replied, "That's nothing. My grandson had a pimple bust on his butt, and...." A pharmacist took his four adopted children and moved to the country to get away from it. A lawyer I used to protect my son was literally appalled by social workers who knew no restraints.

[wintertime]

Ben-Abbad and others have also distributed flyers "warning" local Muslims about the involved church, the Dearborn Assembly of God, accusing its lead pastor, Trey Hancock, of engaging in manipulative, overzealous, youth-targeted missionary tactics.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Warning? Really?

So..what's the warning? Go near that Christian Church and have your head cut off?

[Mad Dawg]

I am no fan of DHS abuses and all. But I do think there's a difference between a behavior I do in spite of my religion and "cultural values" and behavior I do with t he approval of my religion and "cultural values". Presumably some Xtian spouse or child abusers would be amenable to counseling or whatever else it took to ge tthem to change their behavior, while some Muslims would insist not only that there is nothing wrong with the behavior but that it is their right, nay, their duty!

You all need to lay off of Darkwolf. He has a point.

Let him make it then. What is it?

[NucSubs]

Yes, I see that. What I don't see is what the original title of this thread was...namely that he BEAT his wife AND KIDS.

[calex59]

Some Christians beat their wives and children. MOST of them don't. Many non Christians and non muslims beat their children. However, Muslims not only beat their children and wives it is in their koran that they have every right to beat them. The new testament doesn't embrace spousal and child abuse last time I looked.

This is a case of wife and child beating. This POS should not have access to his children, I don't care what religion the SOB subscribes to!

[Kieri]

MI social work ping

[2ndClassCitizen]

All Christians accept the fact that they are sinners.

I never stated that there are no wife beating Christians.

islam promotes physical correction of women by their husbands, it is inherent in the koran. Christianity does not advocate physical vbiolence against women.

I remember talking with a muslim woman who had come from Africa, she told me about her husband hitting her and what her duties were. I told her this is America, and oh by the way, buy a gun and use it if he hits you again.