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Terry Jones: 'Burn a Quran Canceled': Ground Zero Mosque to Move?
Update 3:06 pm PT
Pastor Terry Jones appeared in front of the media again and said that he has received all his information from Imam Muhammad Musri and was told a deal had been struck, even though Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has realeased a statement saying he was as surprised as everyone else.
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Terry Jones Says in a Speech That Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf Has Agreed to Move the Location of the New York City Mosque Near Ground Zero and He Will Cancel 'Burn a Quran' Day
Pastor Terry Jones from the Dove World Outreach Center gave a speech on September 9 saying a deal has been struck with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.
- Terry Jones Says 'Burn a Quran' Day to go Ahead as Planned
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He told waiting reporters that this has been a difficult and trying time for him and his church. As was reported on many media outlets, he acknowledged that many times they were asked "what would it take to call this thing off?"
Jones stated that the church felt very convinced they should hold 'Burn a Koran' day, and they prayed about what would happen, but he acknowledged they did have one idea that would make them stop the event.
He went on to say "We put this idea out to God and our thought was that the American people do not as a whole want the mosque at the Ground Zero location."
The deal they wanted was if the people behind the Mosque near Ground Zero were willing to either cancel the mosque, or if they were willing to move that location, "move it away from that location we would consider that a sign from God."
Jones then went on to say that he has been in contact with the Iman in New York City and "I with the Iman here, I will be flying up here on Saturday to meet with the Iman and he has agreed to move the location."
"It will not happen overnight but he has agreed to move it."
He then repeated again that "the Iman has agreed to move the mosque, we have agreed to cancel our event on Saturday and on Saturday I will be flying up there to meet with him."
This twist in the story raises more questions than it answers. Where did Paster Jones' sudden turn-around come from?
Sarah Palin connected the dots between the two events earlier today on her Facebook page:
Book burning is antithetical to American ideals. People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation – much like building a mosque at Ground Zero.
According to Reuters, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has denied that any such deal exists:
Update: Imam denies deal to move mosque away from ground zero, contradicting Fla. pastor - Reuters
Pastor Jones also reportedly took a call from Defense Secretary Robert Gates asking him to stop 'Burn a Quran' Day.
Imam Muhammad Musri from the Islamic Society of Central Florida spoke to CNN who said that he will meet with Pastor Jones and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf on Saturday and that Pastor Jones said he was only available on Saturday. No tickets have been booked yet.
He said that there has been no deal reached however, and there are no writter guarantees, but Imam Musri said that he feels that Imam Rauf is a very wise and reasonable man and that there will be some consideration to move the Mosque from near the Ground Zero site.
Imam Musri was not in the room when Pastor Jones allegedly took a call from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
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Aymen S. (not verified)at 14:55 on September 9th, 2010
I'd like to thank Sarah Palin for her article, that I found resonable. But there's something that I don't agree with, it concerns the Ground Zero mosque.That mosque, just like any mosque in the world, it is just a holy place were people go to pray, then leave and go back to their businesses.We should certainly not compare that fact to the fact of burning the Quran, our holy book.If people, can interpret the first fact (the g.z. mosque) as an intimidating one, the second one (burn a Quran) is clearely an agression against us, we the 2 billion muslims in the world.If some people in NY streets are shouting against the establishment of that mosque, for a simple interpretation they have made, how should those 2 billion people take that act of burning, publicly, what they worship ?
at 21:45 on September 9th, 2010
We must welcome the decision of controversy-loving Pastor and Imam,if really they have made and it is not a publicity stunt both are vying for.
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aL c kidman (not verified)at 11:04 on September 10th, 2010
publicity stunt says it all, biggest one since ol' whtsHisName went to get hiself killed during Passover.