On Friday, November 13, 2009, R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey and Karen Imm met with the public in Columbus, Ohio and students on the campus of Ohio State University (OSU) to address the issues of the growing threat to religious freedom in America and around the world, as represented by the Rifqa Bary case in Columbus, Ohio.

We traveled throughout Columbus, Ohio to meet with the public there about such threats to freedom, and passed out fliers and other materials to the public and to OSU students, regarding the need to defend religious freedom, the Rifqa Bary case, the growing threat of extremist “honor killings” in America, and the national challenge to human and religious freedom in America.

Our emphasis was on the inalienable human rights of religious freedom in defiance to those extremists who seek to reject freedom of conscience to those who leave Islam or choose another religion, as well as those extremists who have committed ideological violence and “honor killings” to oppress and intimidate other women.

We updated the Columbus public on the case of Rifqa Bary, regarding her statements of threats against her life because she chose to leave Islam, her fleeing from Columbus, Ohio to Florida and her forced return to Columbus, the failure of the press to effectively address the reality of such threats by supremacists in America today and the attacks on Muslim women in America, and the postponement of her hearing to December 22.

We informed the Columbus public and OSU students that threats of violence to intimidate those from their religious freedom were not unique in America today.  We addressed our first-hand observation in Chicago in July 2009 where an extremist group had a crowd of 700, all of which had received brochures stating that those Muslims who chose to leave Islam were “traitors” who deserved the “death penalty.”  We pointed out how just 10 days earlier 20 year American woman Noor Almaleki had died as a result of an “honor killing” by her father in Arizona for not upholding “traditional Muslim values,” something her friends feared discussing with the press.  We pointed to the photos and the stories of other women killed in America in “honor killings” by those who felt they were not being “good enough Muslims” – in Dallas, in Georgia, in Cleveland, in Indianapolis, and one suspected in Buffalo.

We urged the Columbus public to act in Columbus and demand that the Columbus courts take Rifqa Bary’s alleged threats seriously, as too many Muslim women have died in America because their the growing threats to their religious and personal freedoms were not being taken seriously.

To illustrate the global nature of the threat, we pointed to the recent Pew Global poll in Pakistan that stated 78 percent “favor death for those who leave Islam” —  78 percent of Pakistan would be over 130 million people – just in one country.

We spoke, engaged the public, and passed out fliers and materials at locations in downtown Columbus during morning and evening rush hour, and spent the lunch time and afternoon with Ohio State University students at their “Oval” on campus.   We also spoke near the Ohio Statehouse.  We visited the Columbus Dispatch, first informing them of our planned protests, then offering to provide the Dispatch with additional information on the story not yet published, and then finally protesting in front of the Columbus Dispatch offices.

During of engagement with the public and OSU students, we made them aware of the issues, and the next hearing for Rifqa Bary planned for December 22 in Columbus.

R.E.A.L. at Ohio State University