Evangelicals Condemn Burning of Qurans by Fla. Pastor Terry Jones

Evangelical leaders strongly condemned the burning of Qurans by Florida Pastor Terry Jones on Saturday in protest of Iran‘s continued imprisonment of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani.

Jones burned copies of the Quran and an image depicting Muhammad on Saturday evening in front of his church Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., where about 20 people gathered to witness the event, OCALA.com reported. Gainesville police were stationed near the church and patrolled the area.

The event was streamed live over the Internet.

Gainesville Fire Rescue issued the church a citation for violating the city’s fire ordinances. Fire Chief Gene Prince was quoted as saying that Jones had approval for a burn but did not have the required authorization to burn books, which can harm environment. The fine is $271, which includes court costs.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE CHRISTIAN POST 

“Mixed bag” for U.S. Muslims since 9/11

(CBS News)

It was a Tuesday evening in August 2010 when a 21-year-old art student from suburban New York hailed a taxi cab on a Manhattan street, carrying a couple of notebooks, an empty bottle of scotch and a folding knife. After asking the cabbie if he was a Muslim, the student, Michael Enright, muttered “consider this a checkpoint” before slashing at the driver’s neck and eventually fleeing through the car window.

The driver, Ahmed H. Sharif, survived with relatively minor injuries. Enright, who had actually visited Afghanistan earlier that year as part of a group aiming to promote interfaith dialogue, was arrested and charged with a hate crime.

The attack may well have been the most acute example of anti-Islamic sentiment last summer, but it was hardly the only one. For months, a debate raged over the plan to build an Islamic center within several blocks of the World Trade Center site – with critics weighing in from around the country, including some family members of 9/11 victims. In Florida, the Rev. Terry Jones threatened to burn a Quran if the proposed site wasn’t moved. (Efforts to block the center’s approval failed and Jones, though he backed away from his initial threat, went through with a Quran-burning in March after finding the Muslim holy book guilty of crimes against humanity in a televised “trial.”)

FULL ARTICLE FROM CBS NEWS

Controversial Florida Pastor Denied Protest at Michigan Mosque

A U.S. jury  has banned Pastor Terry Jones from staging a protest in front of the largest mosque in North America in the U. S. state of Michigan.  The jury in Dearborn, home  to one of the country’s largest Muslim communities, said such a protest would disturb the peace. Jones, pastor of a small evangelical church in the southern state of Florida, made international headlines last year when he threatened to burn the Quran, the Islamic holy book. Jones eventually did burn the Quran March 20 and posted video on his church’s website.  The move caused widespread violence in Afghanistan, and scores of people were killed including U.N. personnel.  The controversy that surrounds Terry Jones followed him into a courtroom Friday, when concerns about public safety intersected with Jones’s desire to stage the protest.  The jury’s decision puts an end, for now, to Jones’s plans.

FULL ARTICLE FROM VOA NEWS

Prosecutors Fear Riot at Good Friday Mosque Protest

Detroit —Wayne County prosecutors are arguing a Good Friday mosque protest by a controversial Florida pastor could incite a riot and are moving to require him to post a bond before his demonstration.

Judge Mark W. Somers of Dearborn’s 19th District Court on Friday ordered Terry Jones to appear Thursday to answer prosecutors’ claims that his planned protest of the Islamic Center of America on the Dearborn/Detroit border could spark violence. The hearing is set for 3 p.m.

Prosecutors want a “peace bond” from Jones to pay for additional police officers during his demonstration outside the mosque. The complaint doesn’t specify an amount, but Jones has said Dearborn police want him to pay $100,000 in overtime costs.

“The greatest threat is the likelihood of a riot ensuing, complete with the discharge of firearms, unless this proposed bond is granted,” according to the prosecutors’ complaint.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE DETROIT NEWS

Burning the Myths About Islam: What Qur’an Burning Protests Don’t Say

The recent violent protests in Afghanistan - a reaction to the burning of the Quran by a small church in the United States last month - recalled an inescapable reality.

Extremists on all sides - whether in free, democratic America, or in corrupt, occupied Afghanistan - create havoc and chaos, demonstrating the danger brought about by a deadly cocktail of ignorance and idiocy. Ultimately, they cause the deaths of innocent people.

Some cite the difference between the two acts: one saw the burning of a book, while the other claimed human lives.

This is of course true, but what exactly did the mastermind of this foolish and hate-filled act expect, other than a reaction somewhere on the Muslim side?

FULL ARTICLE FROM AL JAZEERA (ENGLISH)

How Pastor Terry Jones Provocative Qur’an Burning Aids the Taliban

For the fourth straight day, Afghans protested in response to a US pastor burning a copy of the Quran in Florida. At least 22 people have died, including seven UN workers, as a result of the demonstrations across the country that began Friday.

While the protests seem to be dying down, they’ve left a mark on Afghanistan. The protests brought a growing anti-foreigner sentiment to the surface that may increase support for the insurgency or, at the very least, put renewed pressure on foreign forces to reduce their presence here.

Though the Taliban has definitely benefited from the ongoing fallout of the Quran burning incident, the violent reaction came from average Afghans who may or may not support the Taliban or other insurgent groups.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR