There are a lot of ways to look at what happened with Terry Jones, the
pastor from Florida who wanted to burn the Qur’an on Saturday but later
thought better of it. We can accuse the media, as Jason Linkins does.
We can blame a frightening wave of anti-Islamic rhetoric and action,
enflamed by people whose political interests it serves. We can examine
the dynamics of a small church and a big world. But there's another
story here.
Berlin (RNS) A German congregation founded by the Florida preacher who has sparked global controversy with plans to burn Qurans on 9/11 says it has had nothing to do with the preacher since 2008, denouncing him as "violent and fanatical."
The Rev. Terry Jones has drawn international criticism with his plans to burn Qurans during services at his Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican on Wednesday (Sept. 8) joined Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other high-level U.S. officials in denouncing a Florida pastor's plans to burn the Quran on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
A statement from the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue called the Rev. Terry Jones' plan to burn up to 200 copies of the Quran on Saturday (Sept. 11) "an outrageous and grave gesture against a book considered sacred by a religious community."
Outrage is pouring in from all sides — as
it should. Terry Jones is the kind of ”pastor” who gives clergy a bad
name; the kind of ”Christian” who affirms the worst suspicions of
skeptics and cynics. His plan to burn copies of the Qur’an on Saturday (September 11) is a stunt both feeble and horrifying.