The Dark Lord
September 9th, 2010, 04:12 PM
The Florida pastor who plans to mark the anniversary of 9/11 by burning copies of the Koran has said that he will almost certainly call off the protest if he is asked to do so by President Obama.
Terry Jones, who heads a tiny Protestant church in the town of Gainesville, had vowed to go ahead and burn hundreds of copies of the Islamic holy book on Saturday despite a growing chorus of outrage from the Muslim world.
But in an interview with the USA Today newspaper, published today, Mr Jones said that although he had not yet heard from Mr Obama, the State Department or the Pentagon he would definitely consider a direct request to cancel the planned protest.
“I don’t think a call from them is something we would ignore,” he said.
The pastor spoke to the newspaper before Mr Obama intervened in the row this morning with a blunt warning that the book-burning would be a “recruitment bonanza for al-Qaeda”.
“You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan. This could increase the recruitment of individuals who would be willing to blow themselves up in American cities or European cities,” the President told ABC’s Good Morning America programme.
Mr Obama did not say whether he would be contacting the Florida minister directly but said that he should “listen to those better angels” and call off his planned “stunt”.
“If he’s listening, I hope he understands that what he’s proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans, that this country has been built on the notion of freedom and religious tolerance,” he added.
The Koran-burning plan has provoked fury and protests in the Islamic. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia - the world’s most populous Muslim nation - asked Mr Obama to prevent the protest, which he said could “threaten world peace”.
About 200 lawyers and activists marched and burned an American flag in the central Pakistani city of Multan. “If Koran is burned, it would be beginning of destruction of America,” a banner read.
It also emerged today that every church in Baghdad had been threatened by militant groups incensed by Mr Jones’s book-burning plans.
Canon Andrew White, the British clergyman who leads Baghdad’s Anglican community, told The Times that an Iraqi colonel had come to warn him that there was a “serious threat” against all the churches in the Iraqi capital.
Mr White said that the threat was absolutely connected with the planned burning of the Muslim holy book by the “stupid pastor”. The extremist Islamist militia groups who still cause havoc on a daily basis see all Christians as implicated in the actions of the Florida church.
“They see that all Christians are doing this,” said Canon White, “and the worst thing you can do in Islam is burn the Koran, they see it as the word of God, and the punishment is death.”
The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said that the Koran-burning might be taken as a pretext by extremists to carry out more killings.
In a statement, he called for intervention to stop the church carrying out its plans, saying that, “it will damage relations among religions and dialogue and cultural relations between nations.”
“Those who committed the crime of September 11 have nothing to do with Islam,” he added.
In Britain, Downing Street condemned the clergyman’s plans as did Tony Blair, the former prime minister.
David Cameron’s spokesman said: “Primarily this is an issue for the US, but clearly the government’s view is that we would not condone the burning of any book. We would strongly oppose any attempt to offend any member of any religious or ethnic group - We are committed to religious tolerance.”
In a statement Mr Blair – who founded a Faith Foundation after leaving office to promote understanding between the world’s religions – said: “I deplore the act of burning the Koran. It is disrespectful, wrong and will be widely condemned by people of all faiths and none. In no way does this represent the view of any sensible person in the West or any other part of the world.”
The former PM added: “Those who wish to cause religious conflict are small in number but often manage to dominate the headlines. You do not have to be a Muslim to share a sense of deep concern at such a disrespectful way to treat the holy book of Islam. Rather than burn the Koran, I would encourage people to read it.”
Terry Jones, who heads a tiny Protestant church in the town of Gainesville, had vowed to go ahead and burn hundreds of copies of the Islamic holy book on Saturday despite a growing chorus of outrage from the Muslim world.
But in an interview with the USA Today newspaper, published today, Mr Jones said that although he had not yet heard from Mr Obama, the State Department or the Pentagon he would definitely consider a direct request to cancel the planned protest.
“I don’t think a call from them is something we would ignore,” he said.
The pastor spoke to the newspaper before Mr Obama intervened in the row this morning with a blunt warning that the book-burning would be a “recruitment bonanza for al-Qaeda”.
“You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan. This could increase the recruitment of individuals who would be willing to blow themselves up in American cities or European cities,” the President told ABC’s Good Morning America programme.
Mr Obama did not say whether he would be contacting the Florida minister directly but said that he should “listen to those better angels” and call off his planned “stunt”.
“If he’s listening, I hope he understands that what he’s proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans, that this country has been built on the notion of freedom and religious tolerance,” he added.
The Koran-burning plan has provoked fury and protests in the Islamic. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia - the world’s most populous Muslim nation - asked Mr Obama to prevent the protest, which he said could “threaten world peace”.
About 200 lawyers and activists marched and burned an American flag in the central Pakistani city of Multan. “If Koran is burned, it would be beginning of destruction of America,” a banner read.
It also emerged today that every church in Baghdad had been threatened by militant groups incensed by Mr Jones’s book-burning plans.
Canon Andrew White, the British clergyman who leads Baghdad’s Anglican community, told The Times that an Iraqi colonel had come to warn him that there was a “serious threat” against all the churches in the Iraqi capital.
Mr White said that the threat was absolutely connected with the planned burning of the Muslim holy book by the “stupid pastor”. The extremist Islamist militia groups who still cause havoc on a daily basis see all Christians as implicated in the actions of the Florida church.
“They see that all Christians are doing this,” said Canon White, “and the worst thing you can do in Islam is burn the Koran, they see it as the word of God, and the punishment is death.”
The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said that the Koran-burning might be taken as a pretext by extremists to carry out more killings.
In a statement, he called for intervention to stop the church carrying out its plans, saying that, “it will damage relations among religions and dialogue and cultural relations between nations.”
“Those who committed the crime of September 11 have nothing to do with Islam,” he added.
In Britain, Downing Street condemned the clergyman’s plans as did Tony Blair, the former prime minister.
David Cameron’s spokesman said: “Primarily this is an issue for the US, but clearly the government’s view is that we would not condone the burning of any book. We would strongly oppose any attempt to offend any member of any religious or ethnic group - We are committed to religious tolerance.”
In a statement Mr Blair – who founded a Faith Foundation after leaving office to promote understanding between the world’s religions – said: “I deplore the act of burning the Koran. It is disrespectful, wrong and will be widely condemned by people of all faiths and none. In no way does this represent the view of any sensible person in the West or any other part of the world.”
The former PM added: “Those who wish to cause religious conflict are small in number but often manage to dominate the headlines. You do not have to be a Muslim to share a sense of deep concern at such a disrespectful way to treat the holy book of Islam. Rather than burn the Koran, I would encourage people to read it.”