Pastor Stops Playing Footsie, Cancels Koran Burning

Mr. Cool Mustache

Terry Jones, the mustachioed Florida Pastor who vowed to burn copies of the Koran on Sept. 11, then said he wouldn't, then decided he might, decreed once and for all that he won't. Jones flew to NYC this morning to give an interview on the Today Show, in which he clarifies any lingering confusion over the planned burning: "It's totally cancelled," he said.

Jones, who NBC’s Carl Quintanilla calls a "reviled man," compares himself to Abraham during the interview (you can see the full interview below), and explains that he called off the burning in hopes of meeting with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to persuade him to move the proposed Islamic community center and mosque near Ground Zero: "We hope that with us making this first gesture of not burning the Koran, saying 'no, we're not gonna do it'... we hope that through that maybe that'll open a door to talk to the Imam..." Just some regular, old fashioned tit-for-tat!

Jones also admitted that there was no planned meeting with the Imam as of yet, despite previous declarations that he had single handedly convinced Rauf to move the Park 51 project. Despite doing very little over the past week besides talking smack, embarassing his community and his daughter, and uniting Glenn Beck and President Obama, Jones feels his work here is done: "We feel we have accomplished our goal. We feel that God has told us to stop." And hopefully, that's that.

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By Ben Yakas in News on September 11, 2010 11:57 AM

Comments [rss]

inoyourider

Got called on yer bluff, ya fuckin idiot.

John L

"We feel that God has told us to stop."

Thank God!

Såkandulæredet

Why did the Today Show allow him to get on there? I don't understand it.

virble

advertising revenue. everything is about money.

JacqueMehoff

shouldn't he go back to fighting with his son at the motorcycle shop?

Jay

Haha - I love that show. Maybe he can build a Koran-fueled chopper?

whitecastlerock

oh no-does this mean the terrorists have won????

freddynyc

How on earth did this cockroach become an international celeb of sorts? They need to send him back to his trailer park in Florida...

jchez

So now we have de facto blasphemy laws in the US? Well, at least as far as one religion is concerned. You know, the one that has its adherents saying that they are peaceful but that they can not vouch for the violent tendencies of some of their fringe members.

Hey, must be cool to say that you are peaceful but, if the murderous threats of someone else benefits you, to take advantage of those threats all the time.

S.D.

"So now we have de facto blasphemy laws in the US? Well, at least as far as one religion is concerned."

(sigh)

Yeaaaahh, Not so much. You want to burn copies of the Koran, knock yourself out. In the USA: We're all allowed to be intolerant of others and publicly say "FUCK YOU!!!" to the entire world as often as you care.

The thing is: there are consequences to actions. Hey, go ahead, do something that is guaranteed to incite violence all over the world.

Then you can tell yourself "I did Nothing!" as US soldiers are endangered by people equally intolerant.

And, No. Despite the Radical Right meme Burning Bibles is not OK.

jchez

This last comment was not meant as a reply but should have stood by itself.

jchez

He is a creation of the mainstream media, including Gothamist. The Ground Zero Mosque (or whatever) controversy was playing mostly as "some Muslims are being insensitive to the feelings of patritoic Americans". At least that's what the polls were showing, anyway.

So the MSM decided to counter that with an insensitive Christian. That way they could show that there were insensitives on both sides. The fact that this guy has a congregation of fifty in a small town in Florida compared to a controversy in downtown New York did not matter. They found their equivalent and they are happy.