Religion & Law

I blogged a few days ago about (what I think is) a disturbing family-law opinion, written by a judge in New Hampshire.  Bill McGurn has an interesting op-ed, here, about the case, and also about a case in Florida, in which a state court is "considering what to do with 17-year-old Rifqa Bary. Miss Bary fled to Florida from Ohio a few weeks back, where she sought refuge with a Christian couple whose church she had learned about on Facebook. She says she ran away from home because her father discovered she'd become a Christian?and then threatened to kill her. On Thursday, Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson ordered the girl and her family to try mediation and set a pretrial hearing for the end of the month."

I read a few things in which it was suggested that a consistent commitment to religious liberty and parents' rights required those who were troubled by the New Hampshire decision -- or, more precisely, its reasoning -- to side with Rifqa Bary's father.  I don't see it (assuming, for present purposes, that Ms. Bary is telling the truth about her father's threat).  It is not the business of the public authority to override a fit parent's decisions about religious education; it is the business of the public authority to protect children from potentially lethal violence by angry parents.  Thoughts?