Terry Jones says he doesn’t think backing down is the “right thing” A US pastor says he is not “backing down” from plans to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11, despite international outrage.
“We are not convinced that backing down is the right thing,” said Terry Jones of 50-member Florida church, the Dove World Outreach Center.
The group’s plan has sparked condemnation from Muslim countries, Nato and the top US Afghan commander.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the plan “disgraceful”.
On Monday, General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Afghanistan, warned troops’ lives would be in danger if the church went through with its bonfire.
The US Attorney General, Eric Holder, called the idea “idiotic and dangerous”.
But organiser, Pastor Terry Jones said on Wednesday that his plan to burn the Islamic holy book is intended to draw attention to his belief that “something’s wrong.”
“It is possibly time for us in a new way to actually stand up, confront terrorism,” Mr Jones told reporters.
He acknowledged Gen Petraeus’ concerns, but claimed to have been contacted by a special forces officer who told him US troops were supportive of his plan.
“So on September the eleventh we shall continue with our planned event.”
The Dove World Outreach Center may only represent a handful of people, but its incendiary plans haven’t emerged out of nowhere.
The role of Islam in America has become a hot button issue with social and political implications.
While most Americans would probably take issue with exhortations to burn the Koran, there is clearly widespread concern about the influence of Islam.
Protests over the planned location of an Islamic centre close to Ground Zero in New York, and similar controversy in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, have highlighted popular anxiety about Islam in America.
Earlier this year, an opinion poll found that 53% of Americans view Islam unfavourably, with only 42% viewing the religion favourably.
Reports about young American Muslims being radicalised on the internet have helped to stoke fears about the nature of a religion indelibly associated, since 9/11, with a violent assault on the US.
Far from subsiding over time, anxiety seems to have deepened. As a result, American Muslims say they feel more isolated than at any time since the 2001 attacks.
The controversy comes at a time when the US relationship with Islam is very much under scrutiny.
There is heated debate in the country over a proposal to build a mosque and Islamic cultural centre streets from Ground Zero, site of the 9/11 attacks, in New York.
Gen Petraeus said on Monday that the bonfire could cause problems “not just in Kabul, but everywhere in the world”.
“It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems,” he said in a statement.
Pastor Jones – author of a book entitled Islam is of the Devil – has said he understands the general’s concerns but that it was “time for America to quit apologising for our actions and bowing to kings”.
The Vatican, the Obama administration and Nato have also expressed concern over the plan.
Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen blasted the plans, telling reporters that burning Korans violated the Nato alliance’s “values”.
Muslims consider the Koran to be the word of God and insist it be treated with the utmost respect. Any intentional damage or show of disrespect to the holy book is deeply offensive to them.
An interfaith group of evangelical, Roman Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim leaders meeting in Washington on Tuesday condemned the proposals as a violation of American values and the Bible.
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