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February 10, 2010

Lawyer: Parents told judge they gave kids to Baptists

Parents of some of the children who 10 U.S. missionaries tried to take out of Haiti after its catastrophic earthquake told a judge Tuesday that they freely handed over their kids, the Americans' lawyer told the Associated Press.

The parents' testimony means no law was broken and "we can't talk any more about trafficking of human beings," attorney Aviol Fleurant told reporters.

He said he was confident the judge will dismiss the case.

Nine of the Americans, most from an Idaho church group, have now been interviewed by the judge, who is to decide whether they will stand trial. The judge did not speak with reporters.

Read the Associated Press story.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | | Comments (5)
        

Comments

The sad part is that it makes no difference to many here that these parents handed over their kids voluntarily. As long as someone gets to bang their drum against the Lord because of these terrible kidnappers and feel better about not following Him themselves, then they try to convince themselves that everything is ok, which of course it isnt. There is a lot of good Christian news coming out of Haiti. BGEA's people will be on the ground for a long time. What more could people who ask for a bribe in order to let somone give out donated food need other than prayer and Christ? Thanks.

Clay - A law was broken and at least one person in the group, its leader knew it. As I understand it authorities in the Dominican Republic told her she did not have the proper documentation and that the group would be arrested if they attempted to bring the kids across the border. Despite that they did it anyway in blatant disregard for the law. Maybe their intention was good, but they did in fact violate the law.

Not every kid was handed over by parents and it appears as if the leader of the group knew she was in violation of the law. The article indicated it was their lawyer who offered the bribe. Hardly something that Christ would approve of doing. There is a lot of good Christian work being done in Haiti and it's sad that because of one person's disregard for the law this is all that gets talked about. Clay stop trying to make this into more than it is. 10 people possibly well intentioned who violated the law at least one of them knowingly, that doesn't seem to Christian to me.

If there is one person who believes that people have made more out of this story than it is, its me. Thanks.

Clay - I have a question for you. If those people were say Catholic, Jewish, Moslem or Gay would you still feel more was made out of the story?

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About Matthew Hay Brown
Matthew Hay Brown writes and blogs about faith and values in public and private life for The Baltimore Sun. A former Washington correspondent for the newspaper, he has long written about the intersection of religion and politics. He has reported from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, traveling most recently to Syria and Jordan to write about the Iraqi refugee crisis.
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