Pentecostal minister backs down from threat to burn Koran

The controversial Rev. Terry Jones, an evangelical Christian pastor of the Dove Outreach Center of Florida, decided on September 9 to back off from his threat to burn copies of the Koran – Islam’s sacred book. Speakiing in Gainsville, Rev. Jones said that he climbed down because he was promised that a planned Islamic center and mosque would be moved away from New York's Ground Zero. The imam planning the center, however, quickly denied such a deal.

Rev. Jones apparently yielded to pressure to forego his threat to burn the Koran on the ninth anniversary of the jihadi terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. President Barack Obama urged him to listen to "those better angels" and give up his "stunt." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the threat “outrageous,” and Defense Secretary Robert Gates took the extraordinary step of calling Jones personally. Numerous religious leaders, Muslim and non-Muslim, also urged the Pentecostal minister to desist.
On September 9, the mustachioed preacher stood outside his 50-member independent Pentecostal church alongside Imam Muhammad Musri, the president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida. Jones said he relented when Musri assured him that the New York mosque will be moved, even while he had never invoked the mosque controversy as a reason for his planned protest. He cited his belief that the Quran is evil because it espouses something other than biblical truth and incites radical, violent behavior among Muslims.

After having prayed about his decision, Rev. Jones said that if the mosque planned for Ground Zero were moved that he would take it as a sign from God to end his threats. "We are, of course, now against any other group burning Qurans," Jones said. "We would right now ask no one to burn Qurans. We are absolutely strong on that. It is not the time to do it." Imam Musri thanked Jones "for making the decision today to defuse the situation and bring to a positive end what has become the world over a spectacle that no one would benefit from except extremists and terrorists" who would use it to recruit future radicals.

As for the mosque at Ground Zero, Imam Musri said that he had told Rev. Jones that it should not be built at the planned site and that he would do everything in his power to stop it. The spiritual leader of the planned Cordoba House at Ground Zero, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, said he was surprised by Jones' announcement. He said "I am glad that Pastor Jones has decided not to burn any Qurans,” but added that he had had no contact with Jones or Musri. Said Rauf in a statement. "We are not going to toy with our religion or any other. Nor are we going to barter. We are here to extend our hands to build peace and harmony." Jones still insists that there is a deal.

Jones later insisted that he had struck a deal, without suggesting that he would go back to his Quran-burning plan in light of the imams' denials. He said Musri told him that officials would guarantee that the mosque would be moved.

In the Islamic world, fervent Muslims in Afghanistan denounced the Koran burning while crying 'Death to Christians!', while in Iraq security has been heightened at Christian churches that have now been threatened with Islamic retribution.