Pastor Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach
Pastor Terry Jones, the leader of the 50-member Dove World Outreach Centre, Florida, in the United States of America (USA), said he has suspended his planned “International Burn-a-Koran Day.”
Pastor Jones who said he didn’t cancel the idea, but merely putting it on hold, intended to use the event to mark the 11th anniversary of September 11, 2001 bombing of the twin tower, New York by some Muslim terrorists.
The recent move according to him is as a result of the promise he received from the president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, Muhammad Musri, that a proposed mosque in New York will be moved away from the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
But Pastor Jones claimed that Musri lied to him after the leader of the New York mosque leader said there was no such agreement.
According to Musri, there was only an agreement for him and Pastor Jones to travel to New York to meet the Imam overseeing plans to build the mosque. "I told the pastor that I personally believe the mosque should not be there, and I will do everything in my power to make sure it is moved.
"But there is not any offer from New York that it will be moved. All we have agreed to is a meeting, and I think we would all like to see a peaceful resolution," Musri added.
Pastor Jones said he relented when Musri assured him that the New York mosque will be moved adding that as a result he is now putting the protest on hold instead of a total cancellation.
But Pastor Jones did not say whether the Quran burning could still hold on Saturday, September 11, as planned or not, but rather insisted that he expects Musri to keep his word and also expects the imam in New York to back up one of his own men.
It’ll be noted, that Pastor Jones had never invoked the mosque controversy as a reason for his planned protest, but only cited his belief that the Quran is evil because it espouses something other than biblical truth and incites radical, violent behavior among Muslims.
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