Pastor Terry Jones has abandoned his plans to burn Korans. Reuters reports:
A Christian pastor said on Thursday he was canceling a plan to burn the Koran, which had drawn international condemnation and a warning from President Barack Obama that it could provoke al Qaeda suicide bombings.
Terry Jones, who heads the tiny Dove World Outreach Center church in the Florida university town of Gainesville, told journalists outside his church in this Florida town that he was calling off his plan.
He said at the same time that an agreement had been reached with Muslim leaders to move the location of an Islamic cultural center and mosque planned close to the site of the September 11 attacks in New York.
But sources close to New York Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said there was no agreement to move the site of the proposed Muslim cultural center.
The planned location has been opposed by many who have said it is insensitive to families of the 2001 victims of the attacks by militant Islamist group al Qaeda.
Jones said he had been promised by Muslim leaders in New York that the location would be changed.
Earlier world leaders had joined the president in denouncing Jones' plan to burn copies of the Islamic holy book on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks that killed almost 3,000 people.
Read more here.
The plan to burn the Korans was the wrong tactic, misrepresented Christianity, and was an "unnecessary provocation," as expressed by Governor Palin yesterday when she urged here that he "stand down" on this plan. President Obama later addressed the issue.
The Governor had tweeted the following:
Book burning=bad;Cleric running 4 Afghan Parliament calling 4 murder of US children n response 2 scorched Korans=worse. Where's media focus?
After Pastor Jones decided to "stand down" today, she tweeted:
Book burner "stands down" -good! Now, followers of book who want to kill innocents bc some people do things you don't agree with: Stand Down
Amen.
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