Pastor Backs Off Plans To Burn Qurans On 9/11

Gainesville - Now that he's decided not to burn Qurans,
Pastor Terry Jones is adamant that no one else should burn
them.

Intense pressure came to bear on the leader of the 50-member
World Outreach Center of the Church of the Dove. President
Barack Obama called his plans a stunt; he received a
personal phone call from Defense Secretary Robert Gates;
there were multiple visits from the FBI, and the assurance
of the commanding general in Afghanistan that it would put
American troops in jeopardy if he went through with his plan
to burn the Quran. He had a stockpile of 20 of the books of
holy writ and a cord of wood ready for the event.

But the linch pin that set the event in motion came when the
pastor received the promise that if he would not burn the
holy books, the Imam in charge of locating a mosque within a
couple of blocks of Ground Zero would alter his plans.

Now that the deed is done, Pastor Jones is left sputtering,
insisting that he received the promise while Islamic
authorities insist that no such agreement was ever reached.

On 9/11, he and Imam Mohammed Musri, the spiritual leader of
the Islamic faith in Central Florida, will travel to New
York to meet with the officials of the Islamic church
planning the new mosque and Islamic Center near Ground Zero.

Imam Musri said that if Pastor Jones had followed through
with his plans, it would have benefitted only extremists and
terrorists to the detriment of the faithful of both the
Christian and Islamic religions.