Pastor Who Threatened to Burn QuranLoses Members
Terry Jones–the Pentecostal pastor who caused an international stir after he threatened to burn the Quran on Sept. 11–recently said that members of his church had left because of his stance against Muslims.
Interviewed near Ground Zero this week, he said that his Gainesville, Fla. congregation was not interested in the “truth†about radical Islam.
“People come to church and want to hear, ‘God loves you, you’re a good person,'” the NY Daily News quoted Jones as saying. “That’s true. God does love you. But there’s more we need to tell people, and they don’t want to hear it.”
Despite losing his flock he said that he plans to stay busy and has started another organization dubbed Stand Up America, which seeks to “teach about the dangers of radical Islam.”
He also has plans to launch a televangelism program with a California network and intends to start an International Judge Mohammed Day.
Jones was widely criticized earlier this year after announcing he would burn 200 Qurans at his Dove World Outreach chuch on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. President Obama said the move would be a “recruitment bonanza for al-Qaida.”
Christian leaders also widely denounced the plan, with Samaritan’s Purse founder Franklin Graham and the Vatican calling Jones’ effort “outrageous and grave.”
Jones canceled the burning just days before it was scheduled to take place.
