JISHOU, HUNAN — I find the whole Rifqa Bary thing fascinating, if only because it highlights the paranoia and/or religious nuttery of some segments of the American populace. I have a Google news alert set up for “rifqa bary,” so I get a daily digest of wingnuttiness. (Frankly, I prefer Nutella, though Nussa is pretty damn good, too.)

Well, it turns out that one of the speakers at the Rally for Rifqa in Columbus (capital of the Islamic Republic of Ohio) was another Muslim-turned-Christian, Nonie Darwish, an Egyptian-born author of anti-Muslim, pro-Israel books and founder of Former Muslims United. Darwish popped up in my Google news alert because of that brief association with Rally for Rifqa.

The link was to a conservative blog called, “Ruthfully Yours: The Right News, Front and Center.” Darwish was scheduled to speak at both Columbia and Princeton Universities, but both invitations were canceled at the last moment.

Apparently, the students who had invited Darwish got wind of her anti-Muslim rhetoric a little late in the game, and changed their minds.

The blogger, Ruth King — who by the way organized the Rally for Rifqa — sees a hidden agenda in the cancellations.

For those of us chronicling the advancing islamisation of America, things have gotten decidedly worse since Obama took over. We have entered a dark age.

That’s right, folks! Soon, we will be the Islamic Republic of America! Preventing Nonie Darwish from speaking at two Ivy League schools (and keeping a minor child away from predatory Christians) is just the tip of the iceberg. Just wait until Obama replaces the entire Congress with imams especially imported from Kenya, or Indonesia, or some other place that ends in “a.”

Meanwhile, back in the Islamic University of Princeton, the student organizer of Darwish’s visit admitted that she did not vet the scheduled speaker thoroughly. (And now I get to link to the newspaper I worked at for three and a half years. Cool!) From The Daily Princetonian:

[Incidentally, the Columbia Spectator has nothing on Darwish's appearance or the cancellation, so sorry, Columbians, I can't link to your campus daily. As always, the 'Prince' is still more on the ball.]

So, if we try to follow Ruth King’s reasoning here, somehow the leadership of Tigers for Israel and the Center for Jewish Life have been islamified and turned into mindless automatons of the Worldwide Islamic Conspiracy™. Indeed, religious-right bloggers are saying the talks were canceled because of “Muslim pressure.”

Or, if we exercise the rational parts of our brains, we can see that Darwish’s own invective led to her dis-invitations. Saying that Islam “is of the devil,” or something like that, does not open doors in traditionally secular institutions like Princeton and Columbia. To put it another way, teaching hate is not socially acceptable in general society.

In the ’50s, it was the Commies. Now, it’s the Muslims. (And the gays. I reckon the antichrist will be a gay Muslim from North Korea, who also reads the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.) The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[NOTE: In the interests of full disclosure, I must now admit that I roomed with two Muslims for part of a summer while at university. One was from Turkey and the other from Pakistan; both are pursuing, to the best of my knowledge, perfectly legitimate careers in their respective countries. From them, I learned how to make a proper pot of tea and a mean chicken curry. Somehow, bomb-making and political infiltration never came up. Still, according to Ruth King and Pam Geller, I have probably been islamified, too. Guilt by association, y'know.]

People held signs that said “Free Rifqa” and “Sharia sucks. Free Rifqa Bari. (sic)” There was a large poster that showed violence done to Muslims who have converted to Christianity, as Bary said she did four years ago. People prayed, and people spoke, and people made a controversy where none exists.

Hence, a manufactroversy.

How many people? Well, one of the organizers demagogues, Pamela Geller, says “hundreds.” The Columbus Dispatch says “about 120.”

Bary ran away from her Columbus home back in September. She and her family are Muslims from Sri Lanka, and according to newspaper accounts, her parents were perfectly OK with her reading the Bible, hanging out with Christian kids, and being a cheerleader.

But her many “supporters” — most of whom are fervent Christians — fervently believe her family, or the middle-of-the-road mosque to which they belong, will put the girl to death if she is sent back to her family. Law enforcement officers discount that likelihood, but since when do True Believers™ believe John Law?

The rally “crowd” was also upset that a family court judge has closed to the public the hearings being held to decide whether Bary is an unruly teenager, as her parents allege, and whether she can leave foster care. They also have their underwear in knots about court orders restricting the girl’s access to the Internet, email and her cellphone.

To them, it’s all some kind of sinister Islamic plot to subvert the American justice system and wage war on Christians, right there in the newly formed Islamic Republic of Ohio. If they didn’t have their heads on backwards, they might realize that closing custody issue hearings and limiting a minors’ access to possibly harmful influences are pretty routine stuff, nothing to see here, folks, just move along.

Bary took off from her home after meeting some Christians on Facebook and spending time with a pastor in Columbus. Her Christian friends helped her take a bus to Orlando, Florida, where she stayed with a rather dodgy sounding Baptist minister and his wife for nearly two weeks before anyone notified Florida’s child welfare office of her whereabouts.

Meanwhile, her worried parents had no idea where she was. But, hey, it’s OK to keep them in the dark, because they’re “evil, murdering Muslims.”

You think I exaggerate? The Dispatch says some folks at the rally were wearing T-shirts that said “Islam is of the devil.” Such warm hearted folks.