The controversial U.S. pastor, Terry Jones, who earned infamy for being behind ‘Burn a Koran Day’ leads a very small church of 50 members in Florida.
A deposition obtained by CBS News from a court case last month raises question about how much Pastor Jones even knows about his controversial cause. Cbs.new
Jones had asked for a permit to protest outside the Islamic Center of America on Good Friday, a time when both the mosque and four nearby churches were expected to be crowded with worshipers.
Dearborn police had denied Jones’s request and asked him to protest instead in a “free speech zone” in front of one of the city buildings.
April 28, 2011: Terry Jones, Qur’an burner and all-around pot stirrer, planned to appeal a court’s decision against him last week scotching his protest outside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, Mich.
April 4, 2011: Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, finally followed through on his threat to burn a copy of the Qur’an, Islam’s holy book.
Amid a heavy police presence, Pastor Terry Jones delivered a rambling speech Friday from the steps of Dearborn City Hall that lashed out at Islam and President Barack Obama, but much of his words were drowned out by the voices of a swarm of protesters across the street who called him a bigot. Freep.com
In his talk, Jones repeated what he has been saying for weeks. But it was more insulting, protesters said. At one point, Jones said Islam promotes lying. Freep.com
The 58-year-old former hotel manager worked as a missionary in Europe for 30 years. He took over as head of the Dove World Outreach Center, a fundamentalist Christian church in Gainesville, Florida in 1996 and is often seen on the church’s 20-acre compound with a pistol strapped to his hip. Irishexaminer.com
During three decades as a missionary in Germany, he recruited nearly 1,000 churchgoers, according to a pro Christian magazine in Germany that interviewed several former members for an article published in September. In Cologne, the article said, Jones was no longer spreading the Gospel so much as “creating his own empire.”
Terry Jones (and his second wife Sylvia) left Germany in 2008 after one of their three adult children… along with a former church elder… accused them of financial and labor abuses. Huffington Post
His daughter, Emma Jones, who still lives in Germany, was one of those accusing her father and stepmother of wrongdoing. Emma Jones has broken with the church, calling it a “cult” that “forced us with oppression to be obedient”. Irishexaminer.com
Prior to bringing his own brand of preaching to America, Jones was ejected from a church in Cologne by congregation members in 2009 for being a Christian fundamentalist. Daily Mail
In addition to forbidding free expression, there were a number of ‘financial irregularities’ when Jones and his wife Sylvia were in charge. Daily Mail
Andrew Schafer, an official responsible for monitoring churches in the region of Cologne said people who were ministered by Jones are still in therapy for ‘spiritual abuse’. Daily Mail
Jones is the author of “Islam Is of the Devil.” That phrase also adorns several billboards on his church’s property. irishexaminer.com
August 2009: Two children, a 10-year-old and a 15-year-old, who belonged to Jones’ church, were sent to school wearing T-shirts that read “Islam Is of the Devil.” They were sent home for dress code violations. Abcnews.go.com
July 12, 2010: Florida Pastor Terry Jones tweeted: “9/11/2010 Int Burn a Koran Day.” He then started an associated “International Burn a Koran Day” Facebook group.
Terry Jones issued a blizzard of statements since he first announced (via Twitter) that he would burn Qur’ans on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
August 26, 2010: The New York Times reported that Jones planned a bonfire of Qur’ans because, he said, it is “full of lies.” Voices.washingtonpost.com
As the Washington Post reported, Jones tweeted multiple messages in mid-July, saying Islam was akin to fascism, criticizing President Obama’s support for a Kenyan constitution that would allow abortion and support Islamic law. Articles.nydailynews.com
Two days after announcing that he would burn Qur’ans, EuroIslam.Info — an Islamic news monitoring group headed by a Harvard professor of divinity — printed the group’s mission statement “to bring to awareness the dangers of Islam and that the Koran (Qur’an) is leading people to hell” and posted it on its website. Articles.nydailynews.com
Nine days later, the Council on American-Islamic Relations criticized Jones. Articles.nydailynews.com
July 30, 2010: The National Association of Evangelicals, one of the largest collections of such churches, denounced the event and urged Jones to call it off.
September 2010: Pastor Terry Jones, the head of a small church in Florida, called off his plans to burn the Qur’an after attracting criticism from around the world. BBC.co.uk
“We will definitely not burn the Koran, no,” the Reverend Terry Jones told NBC’s Today show. “Not today, not ever.”
September 8, 2010: “Jesus would not run around burning books,” Jones said, “but I think he would burn this one (the Qur’an).” Articles.nydailynews.com
September 9, 2010: In a press conference with Imam Muhamad Musri, president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, Jones said he would cancel the Qur’an burning event. Voices.washingtonpost.com
Later reports quoted Jones as saying, “We felt that that would be a sign that God would want us to do it…The American people do not want the mosque there and, of course, Muslims do not want us to burn the Qur’an.” Jones also stated he was against any other groups burning Qur’ans. Voices.washingtonpost.com
Jones had asked for a permit to protest outside the Islamic Center of America on Good Friday, a time when both the mosque and four nearby churches were expected to be crowded with worshipers. Islamophobia-watch.com
Dearborn police had denied Jones’s request and asked him to protest instead in a “free speech zone” in front of one of the city buildings. Islamophobia-watch.com
April 28, 2011: The Reverend Terry Jones, Qur’an burner and all-around pot stirrer, planned to appeal a court’s decision against him last week scotching his protest outside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, Michigan. Recordnet.com
April 23, 2011: Jones was jailed on Friday after a Michigan court determined that his planned demonstration outside a mosque was likely to provoke violence and he refused to pay a $1 bond. Islamophobia-watch.com
April 4, 2011: Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, finally followed through on his threat to burn a copy of the Qur’an, Islam’s holy book. Usnews.com
In March, 2011, the pastor of a tiny church in Florida dressed up in a judge’s robes and held a mock trial in which he pronounced a death sentence upon the Qur’an, an order he then carried out using kerosene and a barbecue lighter. Huffington Post
Terry Jones, the radical pastor who oversaw the burning of a Qur’an in his Florida church in March 2011, after a mock court hearing, may put the Islamic prophet Mohammed on trial in his next ‘day of judgment’, he told The Sunday Telegraph. Thinkprogress.org
