Florida pastor will ‘not ever’ burn Qurans

The Hill ^ | 9/11/2010 | Ben Geman

[Qbert]

Florida pastor Terry Jones said Saturday that he would never carry out plans to burn copies of the Quran, according to NBC.

Jones had planned to burn the Muslim holy text on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, but now says he’ll never go through with it.

"We will definitely not burn the Quran, no,” he said in an interview with the “Today” show in New York. “Not today, not ever.”

Jones said he would refrain from Quran-burning even if a proposed Islamic community center and mosque is built near Ground Zero, according to NBC. Jones heads a small church in Gainesville called the Dove World Outreach Center.

The pastor’s plan drew warnings from top military officials and President Barack Obama that burning the Quran would endanger the lives of U.S. service members. Obama criticized the plan during a press conference Friday.

“The idea that we would burn the sacred texts of someone else’s religion is contrary to what this country stands for. It’s contrary to what this country, this nation was founded on,” Obama said. “We’ve got an obligation to send a very clear message that this kind of behavior or threats of action put our young men and women in harm’s way.  And it’s also the best imaginable recruiting tool for al Qaeda,” he added.

Jones is seeking a meeting with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who heads the Cordoba Initiative that’s proposing the Islamic center, but said nothing has been set up, according to NBC.

Jones told the network that his goal was to “expose” that there is “very dangerous and very radical” element to Islam, and claimed, “we have definitely accomplished that mission.”

[blackbart.223]

"Because we live in an age of unreason, where cowardice is called courage."

I agree.

[I see my hands]

"The idea that we would burn the sacred texts of someone else’s religion is contrary to what this country stands for. It’s contrary to what this country, this nation was founded on,” Obama said. “We’ve got an obligation to send a very clear message that this kind of behavior or threats of action put our young men and women in harm’s way"

Burning the sacred texts of someone else's religion is freedom.

It isn't the citizenry's responsibility to keep the military safe it is the military's obligation to keep us free.

[FrankR]

I'm not so much disappointed that the koran didn't get burned, as to me all it is, is the muslim translation of "Rules for Radicals"; but my concern is that still another American - Terry Jones - has made a big hoopla about standing up against tryanny, only to poop out at the last minute.

It was like taking viagra to cure premature ejaculation. What a waste of time and news coverage. He even had that big truck painted up to declare his stand against an oppressive sect that is hell bent in conquering America.

This tells me that some of the pundits were right - this was a pure publicity stunt aimed at increasing his flock of fifty to a church-full.

Well, he got his fifteen minutes, and will probably get an surge in the size of his congregation, but once the curiousity seekers have seen what they came for, he'll be lucky to be left with his original fifty.

Nature abhors a vaccuum, and America abhors a coward. Onward Christian Soldiers seems to be in full retreat mode, letting the same government who is controlled by the Constitution shut them down, one way or the other.

He was gung ho, got a few FBI visits, and all of a sudden - nothing.

Sharia law wins, again. All the rest of us can do is keeping feeding the illegal aliens.

[Diogenesis]

No one stopped Hasan, or Whitey Bulger, did they?

But this got the entire US DOD, FBI, IRS right on the case.

[upchuck]

Terry Jones, proud possessor of BB sized cojones.

All the hell has been raised Terry, might as well go ahead and burn it.

[himno hero]

The answer lies in two places...”Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf unashamedly told CNN that relocating the Ground Zero Mosque will proximately cause havoc: “The headlines in the Muslim world will be that Islam is under attack. But if you don’t do this right, anger will explode in the Muslim world.” He predicted that “the reaction could be more furious than the eruption of violence following the 2005 publication of Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad... Our national security now hinges on how we negotiate this.[emphasis supplied].” Full story at: http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/09/if_you_can_blackmail_yale_why.html

and

.....ever wonder why zero is popular with the muslims?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2585916/posts?page=27#27

[Plumberman27]

That is OK i went out today and bought three korans. One i pissed on, the second i dumped bacon grease on and the third i left a turd on. I then burned each of them. I wonder how long my post on U-Tube would last! It is dirty religion that muslims follow and we are at war with them and have been for hundreds or thousands of years and until they are ALL gone.

[magslinger]

A lot of folks are guessing it was either a threat from the Jihadis or the FBI...

Considering who is in the oval office, is there a difference?

[TXnMA]

Video of burning an English translation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82RXDQ4bXJA

[spielyi]

I waited for my husband to get home this morning from work before burning the koran. I smeared bacon grease on it and then tore out some pages to get the fire started. Dogs were busy trying to lick off the bacon grease before it was gone. Hubby said a prayer to God that we were burning it to get rid of evil, poured some kerosene on it to get the fire going and then sang God Bless America. No big ceremony. IMO you deal with a bully using tactics they understand. I will not back down in fear from them.

[blackbart.223]

"Because the powers that be understand the real, true, destructive power of Islam and Sharia law and it scares them to death."

My take is "the powers that be" believes in Islam and Sharia law. His only problem is how to pull it off in this country.

[sport]

The muslim supporters and quran lovers on this forum are going to lynch you.

[Jim Scott]

Considering Jones just did a 180 on Quran-burning, which I never endorsed, it’s painfully obvious that either the FBI and/or jihadist threats stopped him, cold. That is scary. If our government is employing fascist tactics against citizens exercising their First Amendment right to burn the Quran (while American-flag-burning is constitutionally protected) we are in worse trouble than I thought. If Jones caved due to Muslim threats, that is almost as bad, but a bit more understandable. His “I exposed Islamic extremism’ excuse is just face-saving and fools no one. The man is a cheesy publicity-seeker who got in over his head when his Quran-burning stunt received national attention, including the attention of the president, a Muslim sympathizer and a true believer in authoritarianism government.

[blackbart.223]

"Considering Jones just did a 180 on Quran-burning, which I never endorsed, it’s painfully obvious that either the FBI and/or jihadist threats stopped him, cold. That is scary. If our government is employing fascist tactics against citizens exercising their First Amendment right to burn the Quran (while American-flag-burning is constitutionally protected) we are in worse trouble than I thought. If Jones caved due to Muslim threats, that is almost as bad, but a bit more understandable. His “I exposed Islamic extremism’ excuse is just face-saving and fools no one. The man is a cheesy publicity-seeker who got in over his head when his Quran-burning stunt received national attention, including the attention of the president, a Muslim sympathizer and a true believer in authoritarianism government."

Everything you stated here is right on target.

[Venturer]

Somebody scared the crap out of Pastor Jones.

[magslinger]

The muslim supporters and quran lovers on this forum are going to lynch you.

Lynch parties don't happen when the guest of honor is armed or has friends who are...

[winodog]

Thats how I saw it.
Its not about him being a coward and caving in.

Its about the “entire resources” of the USA being used to stop a free man from burning a book.

Where were all these parasites and predators when the Bible is burned?

We are doomed. The entire world is at war with us, including the politicians we send to the District of Criminals.

[meyer]

On the one hand, it sounds like they got to him. On the other hand, just threatening to burn the Koran proved his point. The reaction from the fascists was enough to illustrate to all but the most stupid just what kind of people we’re dealing with.

[Surrounded_too]

The next President should clean house in all these alphabet agencies, expose the ringleaders and even send them to GITMO. Disband the 100 year mistake - the IRS. Everybody in government should be given a civics book. Learn the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, etc. A difficult test will be given - 85% is fail. Fail, you lose your job and any pension.

[Qbert]

“Considering Jones just did a 180 on Quran-burning, which I never endorsed, it’s painfully obvious that either the FBI and/or jihadist threats stopped him, cold. That is scary. If our government is employing fascist tactics against citizens exercising their First Amendment right to burn the Quran (while American-flag-burning is constitutionally protected) we are in worse trouble than I thought. If Jones caved due to Muslim threats, that is almost as bad, but a bit more understandable...”

Agree. And I’d really like to hear from him directly the answer to the simple question, “Who ultimately ‘convinced’ you to not do this?”