THE lunatic who has hogged the headlines over the past few days with his threat to incinerate Korans, has called off his inflammatory 9/11 stunt, claiming he had struck a deal regarding the controversial Ground Zero Mosque.
Pastor Terry Jones, of the Dove World Outreach Center, who last year got himself slung out of an evangelical church in Germany – the Christian Community of Cologne – Â because of his irrational behaviour, “spiritual abuse” and increasing demands for cash, today claimed that he had struck a deal to have the planned New York mosque relocated.
He revealed that the deal came after days of prayer, and said he viewed the tentative arrangement as:
A sign from God.
The fiery pastor said that Imam Faisel Abdul Rauf, the man behind the Ground Zero mosque, would meet with him in New York on Saturday.
Said the delusional Jones:
He has agreed to move it. Americans don’t want the mosque there and of course Muslims don’t want us to burn Korans.
UPDATE: Following a denial by Imam Muhammad Musri, President of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, that a deal had been done to relocate the NY mosque, Jones claimed that he had been lied to by Musri, and that, rather the cancel his bonfire, he is now putting it on hold.
Musri denies having lied to the pastor. He told Jones:
I personally believe the mosque should not be there, and I will do everything in my power to make sure it is moved. But there is not any offer from there [New York] that it will be moved. All we have agreed to is a meeting, and I think we would all like to see a peaceful resolution.
Another crazy fundie has joined the debate. Stephen “Birdshit” Green has just issued a press release in which he says:
Pastor Jones’ action is extreme, but he is obviously a man of courage and sometimes extreme things have to be done. I can think of nothing more extreme than going to the Cross to bear the sins of others, which was what Jesus Christ did. But if we are talking of extremists, Islam has more than its fair share of them …
Pastor Jones is trying to raise a prophetic voice albeit in too provocative a way, but I know his church has focused on sodomy and abortion in the past. In one sense Islam is a symptom rather than the cause of the problem, and I speak as someone who opposes the building of mosques and who leads regular prayer vigils at the site of the proposed West Ham ‘megamosque’, praying against it.
Furious Muslims in the Afghan capital of Kabul burned an effigy of Terry Jones on Monday
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
September 9th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Hot air-i think it is highly unllikly he has an agreement the NY mosque will be moved
September 9th, 2010 at 11:54 pm
I think it is highly likely he will pretend they had an agreement and it was reneged upon.
September 10th, 2010 at 1:10 am
When has the religious reich ever hesitated to use lies and deception to further their “cause” and garner free publicity? Obviously, Mr. Jones has no agreement at all and has used it as an excuse to wimp out from what was probably no more than a publicity trick from the beginning.
How else could a third-rate preacher with fewer than 50 followers get international attention paid to his insanity?
One more proof that most of the problems of the world are, and always have been, caused by religion. Mankind will never truly be free until the black yoke of religion is lifted by the clear light of truth and rational thinking.
September 10th, 2010 at 1:16 am
Well the news tonight says –’NO DEAL’ on the mosque move.
Again the same old schite on the news …
The preacher is an ass and we need to give the islamics a blow-job.
I just figured out why they (other religions) did not come down on islamic violence. They don’t want to look like HIPPO-crazies when they get a chance to kick some ass.
Personally I think all religious should be forced to read their silly holey crap until they understand it. Then they will have to live with the fact they are a bunch of hateful violent bigots.
September 10th, 2010 at 2:48 am
I’m sure you posted that picture to show how hypocritical and violent the Afghan protesters are. I read that they were also chanting, “Death to the Christians!”. This is worse than anything Pastor Jones was going to do. Not only is burning a book protected speech, it is a form of nonviolent protest. I’m glad to see you are willing to let threats of violence silence speech. No matter how much you disagree with the content of said speech, this is not a happy day for free speech advocates. This is an unfortunate trend in the west where any speech that upsets Islam is silenced under threat of violence. The more we give in to such intimidation and threats the more emboldened the aggressors become. Today it was a bigoted pastor who is not easy to like, but on another occasion it’s South Park or Danish Cartoonists or Theo Van Gogh, etc…
If you want to condemn the content of Pastor Terry Jones’ speech, I fully understand. But when the overriding consensus is to silence speech for fear of violent retaliation by those who don’t practice what they preach, I’ve got a problem.
September 10th, 2010 at 6:36 am
I know Jones is just another religious loony,however that’s not the point.Jones’ apparent backdown is, in fact, another victory for Islamic bullying and special pleading.
September 10th, 2010 at 7:34 am
Evidently it’s “on” again now – he was lied to!
Words of wisdom from Sarah Palin:
Republicans like Sarah Palin couldn’t resist one dig though.
She likens the pastor’s plans to a project to build a community centre to include a mosque some two blocks from the ‘ground zero’.
Both, she says, are inappropriate. (Sky)
September 10th, 2010 at 8:09 am
I heard on the Today programme [R4] that the burning is still on. Also in the same report was some muzzie leader from Florida who made some veiled threats if the burning continues; nothing about how sensible it would be for the muslims just to ignore Pastor Jones – that would be too reasonable and something the religion of outrage cannot countenance. I hope this mad Pastor goes ahead with his koran burning, if he backs down, the bullying muzzies have won again and will be further emboldened.
September 10th, 2010 at 8:44 am
Too many loonies spoiling for a fight, all in god’s name. Can’t some Muslim just symbolically burn one bible or crucifix and leave it at that? Too bad we can’t round up all the loonies in the West and just drop them in some Islam-infested area, so they can sort it out for themselves. The UN can go in after a few years and count the survivors.
And if all this religious idiocy could be harnessed and converted to energy, we wouldn’t need any oil or nuclear power.
September 10th, 2010 at 9:24 am
At this point I don’t know what to believe anymore. I’m getting tired of all this back and forth from Jones. One day he wants to burn the Quran, the next he doesn’t, then he isn’t sure. Make up your mind! We all know Terry Jones used to be the best Quran-burning Pastor in America… back in like 1996. But it’s 2010 right now and Jones, while still burning Qurans at a high level well past his prime, is just a shell of his former greatness. The guy holds all the records and I think it’s safe to say that unless a young prodigy comes out of nowhere those records are safe. At this point I feel like Jones is just burning Qurans for the publicity, the money, and to keep racking up stats and records.
No one is denying he had a good 2007, and his 2009 was unreal for someone his age, but to come back to Quran burning on such short notice after nearly 6 months rehabbing the tennis elbow he developed from throwing so many Qurans on a pyre in January is going to come back and haunt him. Folks, Terry Jones just isn’t at 100% and I feel like he’s going to hold his entire congregation back by making another unnecessary comeback. The Dove World Outreach Church has a lot on their plate, and I just feel like while Terry Jones is the most important pastor in their history, there are young up and coming pastors riding the bench right now that need to get some time behind the pulpit if they are going to develop and help this church in the future.
It’s time for Terry Jones to step away from Quran burning, as hard as that may be for him. He has dedicated his entire life to burning Islamic holy texts and he has accomplished more than any other Islamophobe will ever achieve. To put it simply: he needs to step away with dignity before it’s too late. It would honestly be a shame if he sat around these next few days wasting his church’s time as they try to move on, only to decide at the last second that he wants one last shot at glory a couple of hours before the first book gets set ablaze. Even if he does come back he’s going to be rusty and I don’t think the fans who have spent the last 18-20 years following his career want to watch him attempt to throw a book on the fire only to have it get intercepted by a New Orleans Saints defensive back while three of their D-linemen crush him and break his legs.
September 10th, 2010 at 9:29 am
Har Davids: I said a similar thing before. Why the need to burn hundreds of copies of one book? It isn’t going to have any significant effect upon the number in circulation. Symbolically burning one copy would make the point (whatever that might be!).
September 10th, 2010 at 10:11 am
Didn’t I read somewhere that Imam Faisel Abdul Rauf isn’t in fact an Imam but a desert death cult member with a very high opinion of himself.
September 10th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Doesn’t it seem rather strange that followers of all these religions of peace and love can waste so much time and energy hating on the followers of other religions, instead of doing good in the world which would bring people flocking to their doors to find out what their secret is?
September 10th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Feisal Abdul Rauf has been imam of a New York City mosque for nearly thirty years now, though you don’t need qualifications for that position!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feisal_Abdul_Rauf
September 10th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
The man’s an arse but it’s a sad day for freedom of speech if he is silenced by threats of violence.
I particularly object to our Government stating that it is unacceptable for anyone to intentionally offend a member of any religion. So people who believe in the supernatural deserve special protection, while those who base their world view on science and reason are fair game?
We need some politicians with the balls to stand up for western values of freedom of speech and human rights.
September 10th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
If god gave this clown and his 30 (or is it 50?) fuckwits a sign and the sign seems not to have been a sign what does this say about Jonsey’s perception of the wishes of his god or same god’s ability to convey his signs.
This could be a good musical along the lines of Springtime for Hitler. Perhaps Book burning time for Jonsey.
September 10th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Word has reached cyberspace news that three protesters against the burning have been shot dead, so now Jones has spilled blood to go with his flames.
What was that about sound and fury signifying nothing?
September 10th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
‘I can think of nothing more extreme than going to the Cross to bear the sins of others, which was what Jesus Christ did.’
Sounds like a plan, maybe we should nail Terry Jones to a cross and then burn him…
September 10th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
I always thought this book burning idea was mad but pastor Jones got what he wanted, publicity for his obviously failing church (only 50 attendees, surely he can do better than that) and a vicious reaction from the muslim community who came out and danced for him just as he wanted (could not one of them see that the best response was a shrug of the shoulders and to ignore him?).
What I find disgraceful about this whole episode though, has been the outright condemnation of this wanker but an almost resigned acceptance of the threats of violence offered as if those threats were somehow acceptable. All those politicians who had a go at him should now be condemning the violent response, not to do so is tantamount to giving in to blackmail. What comes next, all criticism of islam to be banned?
September 10th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
@Wash – FTW!
@Newspaniard – There’s a difference?
September 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Janstince: I posted a response to Newspaniard about seven hours ago, which has not appeared yet. I couldn’t see the difference either!
September 10th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
I have no desire to burn bibles. After all, their message is essentially the same as the koran’s–hate all the people your families hate. But just watch for the bonfires if anyone tries to bring The God Delusion; The God Psychosis; God is Not Great; or God: The Failed Hypothesis, into my territory.
September 10th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
I love that comment by Stephen Green which, as I said on an earlier thread, is a complete non sequitur. It puts me in mind of all those idiot vicars playing their pop records in school assemblies, and then saying: “The Beatles are saying there that you can’t buy me love. You know, God says something very much like that in The Bible…blah!blah!blah!”
September 10th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
barriejohn:
Seriously, I thought that was the definition of anybody rising in the ranks of the Abrahamic faiths. They’re all terrified and obsessed with death instead of life, they all have really crazy rules, most of which do not translate into the modern age, and they all try to cling to the days when humankind was more scarce than it is now, when communication around the world was not possible by any stretch of the imagination, and when people were wandering around in the desert (40+ years, give me a break), looking for food and thinking, “You know, this @$$hole who led us here? I don’t think he should be in charge anymore. He doesn’t have any idea where we’re going. By the time all this is done, Israel will look like paradise compared to what we’ve been through and lived on.”