Controversial pastor Terry Jones has burned copies of the Koran and a depiction of the prophet Mohammed to protest the imprisonment in Iran of ‘Christian’ clergyman Youcef Nadarkhani — a follower of a cult of Christianity.
The tiny church headed by Jones is considered a hate group.
When Don Northrup founded Dove World Outreach Center in 1985, his widow says he never envisioned it becoming what it is today.
Then, it was a growing evangelical church with a congregation of almost 200 members. Now, a handful of people attend services in which ministers carry handguns and rail against Islam.
But is Terry Jones’ tiny group of followers a ‘cult’?
Un-Christian behavior on the part of an attention-seeking ‘pastor’ and his 30-person fringe church in Gainsville, Florida, has led Muslim extremists in Afghanistan to savagely murder innocent people.
Terry Jones, the 58-year-old pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center, presided over what he called an “International Judge the Koran Day” on March 20, in which he supervised the burning of Islam’s holy book in front of some 50 people.
Florida Pastor Terry Jones, whose threat to burn Islam’s holy book on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks last year provoked widespread condemnation, has been banned from visiting Britain, Reuters reports.
From our Religious Insanity file: An armed Christian organization, Right Wing Extreme, will protect a church that is planning to host an “International Burn a Quran Day” on the ninth anniversary of September 11, the church’s pastor said on Tuesday.
The Dove World Outreach Center, in Gainesville, Florida, says it is hosting the event to remember 9/11 victims and to take a stand against Islam. With promotions on its website and Facebook page, the nondenominational church invites Christians to burn the Muslim holy book.
Dove World Outreach Center Pastor Terry Jones has accepted the support of Right Wing Extreme, which he said offered to come to the church with between 500 and 2,000 men on September 11. He described the organization as an armed civilian militia group.
“There is a need for this protection. It is absolutely necessary in light of the death and terror threats we have received,” Jones said in an e-mail to CNN.
Muslims and many other Christians, including some evangelicals, are fighting the church’s plan to burn the Quran.
We can be sure of this: ‘Pastor’ Terry Jones might as well burn his Bible — since he either has not read it or does not intent to obey its teachings.
A Florida church says it will go ahead with plans to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11, despite the city refusing to issue a burn permit, Orlando’s Fox35 TV reports.
We think this kind of behavior is so ill-advised that we feel comfortable slapping this news item with the ‘religious insanity‘ tag.