Worldwide criticism mounts over plan to burn Qurans

Pressure continues to mount for a preacher who wants to burn copies of the Quran and as the day of the planned burning nears, international attention remains focused on this small church tucked between pastures and subdivisions in the north part of Gainesville.

Pastor Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach Center told reporters today he would move forward with his plans despite the mounting criticism that his "International Koran Burning Day" on Saturday will spark violence against U.S. troops in the Middle East.

Jones is still set on burning copies of Islam's holy book to coincide with the nine-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. With world leaders condemning his actions and more than 100 death threats directed at him and his church, the pastor has decided to carry a .40 caliber pistol for protection.

Members of the media have converged on the church, setting up cameras a few yards away from painted signs that read "Islam Is of the Devil." Across the street, a hole has been punched in Dove World's monument sign, which Gainesville authorities say could be an act of vandalism.

Supporters have been mailing copies of the Quran to his church of about 50 followers to be incinerated in a bonfire Saturday.

Gen. David Petraeus took the rare step of a military leader taking a position on a domestic matter when he warned in an e-mail to The Associated Press that "images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan - and around the world - to inflame public opinion and incite violence."

Jones responded that he is also concerned but is "wondering, 'When do we stop?' " He refused to cancel the protest at his Dove World Outreach Center but said he was still praying about it.

"How much do we back down? How many times do we back down?" Jones told the AP. "Instead of us backing down, maybe it's time to stand up. Maybe it's time to send a message to radical Islam that we will not tolerate their behavior."

Jones gained some local notoriety last year when he posted signs in front of his church declaring "Islam is of the Devil." But his Quran-burning idea attracted wider attention. It drew rebukes from Muslim nations and at home as an emotional debate was taking shape over the proposed Islamic center near the ground zero site of the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York.

His actions most likely would be protected by the First Amendment's right to free speech. The U.S. Supreme Court has made clear in several landmark rulings that speech deemed offensive to many people, even the majority of people, cannot be suppressed by the government unless it is clearly directed to intimidate someone or amounts to an incitement to violence, legal experts said.

The fire department has denied Jones a required burn permit, but he said lawyers have told him he has the right to burn the Qurans, with or without the city's permission.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder during a meeting Tuesday with religious leaders to discuss recent attacks on Muslims and mosques around the U.S. called the planned burning idiotic and dangerous, according to a Justice Department official. The official requested anonymity because the meeting was private.

The top two national security advisers in President Barack Obama's Cabinet also denounced plans to burn the Muslim holy book, saying it would inflame tensions and put Americans abroad at risk.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the plan was ill-advised and echoed concerns first raised by Petraeus.

In remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in Washington, Clinton called the plans "outrageous" and "aberrational" and said they do not represent America or American values of religious tolerance and inclusiveness.

She also lamented that the tiny congregation in Gainesville had gotten so much attention for what she called a "distrustful and disgraceful" means of marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"It is regrettable that a pastor in Gainesville, Florida, with a church of no more than 50 people can make this outrageous and distrustful, disgraceful plan and get the world's attention, but that's the world we live in right now," Clinton said. "It is unfortunate, it is not who we are," she said.

Through a Pentagon spokesman, Col. David Lapan, Gates added his voice to the growing controversy.

"No one is questioning the right to do these things. We are questioning whether that's advisable considering the consequences that could occur," Lapan said. "Gen. Petraeus has been very vocal and very public on this, and his position reflects the secretary's as well."

In Iraq, where almost 50,000 American troops are still serving, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey and the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Gen. Lloyd Austin, joined in the condemnation, calling the plan "disrespectful, divisive and disgraceful."

"As this holy month of Ramadan comes to a close and Iraqis prepare to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, we join with the citizens of Iraq and of every nation to repudiate religious intolerance and to respect and defend the diversity of faiths of our fellow man," they said in a joint statement released by the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Clinton appealed for Jones to reconsider and cancel. And, in the event he goes ahead with the plan, she suggested to laughter from the audience, that the news media ignore it.

"We are hoping that the pastor decides not to do this," she said. "We're hoping against hope that if he does, it won't be covered as an act of patriotism."

"We want to be judged by who we are as a nation, not by something that is so aberrational and we will make that case as strongly as possible."

Asked if she had a message for the Dove World Outreach ministry, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor said she would ask them to "stand down" from plans to burn Qurans.

Speaking in Tampa at a press conference to remind veterans of unclaimed benefits, Castor said she agreed with Petraeus that burning the Muslim holy books would put U.S. service personnel at greater risk.

In Rome, the Vatican office responsible for relations with Islam issued a stern statement saying that every religion has the right to respect and protect its sacred books, places of worship and symbols.

While deploring the terror attacks, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue said they "cannot be counteracted by an outrageous and grave gesture against a book considered sacred by a religious community."

David Axelrod, senior adviser to President Barack Obama told CNN this morning: "The reverend may have the right to do what he's doing but it's not right. It's not consistent with our values. ... I hope that his conscience and his good sense will take hold."

Local religious leaders in this progressive Florida city of 125,000 anchored by the sprawling University of Florida campus also criticized the lanky preacher with the bushy white mustache.

Churches in Gainesville have been quietly putting together several interfaith services.

On Friday night, Trinity United Methodist Church, located practically next door from Jones' chapel, will have an event called "A Gathering For Peace, Understanding and Hope." Open to the public, the service includes tables stacked with varieties of bread from around the world.

People will be encouraged to "break bread" with others from different faiths, according to a church flier.

Religious leaders in Gainesville are also running full page ads in the local paper. Signed by pastors, priests and rabbis, the ads declare that the community "will not remain silent in the face of religious intolerance."

A student group is organizing a protest across the street from the church on Saturday.

Gainesville's new mayor, Craig Lowe, who during his campaign became the target of a Jones-led protest because he is openly gay, has declared Sept. 11 Interfaith Solidarity Day in the city.

In Afghanistan, Jones' planned burning continued to provoke outrage.

"It is the duty of Muslims to react," said Mohammad Mukhtar, a cleric and candidate for the Afghan parliament in the Sept. 18 election. "When their holy book Quran gets burned in public, then there is nothing left. If this happens, I think the first and most important reaction will be that wherever Americans are seen, they will be killed. No matter where they will be in the world they will be killed."

Kabul resident, Rajab Ali said, "If this (burning of the Quran) happens there will be chaos in Afghanistan, and being a Muslim, if we don't defend the Quran then what else we can do?"

The Quran, according to Jones, is "evil" because it espouses something other than biblical truth and incites radical, violent behavior among Muslims.

Muslims consider the Quran along with any printed material containing its verses or the name of Allah or the Prophet Muhammad to be sacred. Any intentional damage or show of disrespect Quran is deeply offensive.

Jones' Dove Outreach Center is independent of any denomination. It follows the Pentecostal tradition, which teaches that the Holy Spirit can manifest itself in the modern day. Pentecostals often view themselves as engaged in spiritual warfare against satanic forces.

The world's leading Sunni Muslim institution of learning, Al-Azhar University in Egypt, accused the church of stirring up hate and discrimination, and called on other American churches speak out against it.

Last month, Indonesian Muslims demonstrated outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, threatening violence if Jones goes through with it.

Jones dismisses the response of the other churches as "cowardly."