UPDATE: Pastor To Burn Koran

The Pastor who has announced that he is planning to burn the Muslim Koran, has decided to do the Koran burning this coming Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

From the Wall Street Journal online site:”The pastor of a small Florida church who has pledged to incinerate copies of the Quran on Sept. 11 said Wednesday he would press ahead with the plan, despite pleas from the Obama administration, U.S. military officials, the Vatican and religious leaders around the world.

“As of right now, we are not convinced that backing down is the right thing,” said Terry Jones, pastor of the 50-member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla.”

This is does not surprised me, since this pastor was firm in his decision to do the Koran burning. Look for more news media reporters than everyday folks over there.

Going on further:”The church’s plans have been denounced by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, and other senior military officials who say they fear images of a burning Quran could be used to drum up anger toward the U.S. and potentially endanger troops.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the church’s actions “disgraceful” in a speech Wednesday to the Council on Foreign Relations. Protests against the plan have also come from the Republican and Democratic candidates for Florida governor, as well as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Meanwhile, Muslim media from Turkey to Afghanistan warned that burning the sacred text of Islam could deepen animosity toward the West.

While leaders of Muslim nations have refrained from commenting on the Quran controversy so far, editorials and news bulletins broadcast on state television mostly focused on how the issue had drawn harsh criticism from U.S. officials and world religious leaders.”

What I see here is the need for Muslims to start to clean their house out, just as the Christians had to do in the past and still do, of their radicals. I look at what is going to happen as a learning experience of the need to be sensitive to the needs of non-Muslims, just as they are pushing for sensitivity for their side. Start first by addressing the need to move the planned Ground Zero mosque/community center AWAY from the area very close to Ground Zero. Also have the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Nicholas rebuilt FIRST.

Added that even the hometown of this pastor’s church has been embarrassed by this planned event.”Mr. Jones’s plans also drew censure locally in Gainesville, where despite its small size, the 24-year-old nondenominational church is well-known and has been under intense government scrutiny.

Mayor Craig Lowe—a target of a Dove World Outreach protest earlier this year—asked residents and visitors to stay away from the church this weekend. Mr. Jones plans to burn the Quran copies in a bonfire Saturday evening between 6 and 9 p.m.

“They are known locally as a fringe group,” Mr. Lowe said. “They’re an embarrassment to the community.”

Even the FL ACLU has been put into a delicate situation:”Mr. Jones’s planned actions have put the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida in a delicate position. The group is suing the local public-school system on behalf of two families who attend Dove World Outreach. The families have children who wore T-shirts emblazoned with “Islam is of the Devil” to school last year and were asked to not wear them or to cover them up.

The Florida ACLU condemned Mr. Jones’s message Wednesday as un-American but defended his right to free speech.”We cannot pick and choose who is protected by the Constitution,” spokesman Brandon Hensler said. “We’re very concerned about this wave of anti-Muslim sentiment. But the answer is not to infringe on their right to say what they want to say.”

While I have said in a previous blog entry that in the eyes of the law, since the United States Supreme Court ruled that is legit free speech to burn the American flag, this also extends to the Koran burning, if this man says he is a Christian, would it be better for him to proclaim the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who NEED to hear the good news of the Gospel, including Muslims?

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