Anywhere else Terry Jones might have been arrested, but in the US he is given police protection
IN A DIFFERENT country, Pastor Terry Jones might have been arrested. In the US, where the First Amendment guarantee of free speech is sacrosanct, Jones enjoys police protection.
The mock trial and torching of the Koran which Jones staged on March 20th, taking care to stream it live in Arabic on “Truth TV”, precipitated days of mob violence and the deaths of at least two dozen people in Afghanistan.
Gen David Petraeus, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, said Jones’s act “endangers the war effort”.
It has strained the US’s already tense relationship with the Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who brought Jones’s deed – which went unnoticed in the US – to the attention of his compatriots.
President Barack Obama called the Koran-burning “an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry”.
Jones doesn’t think much of Obama. “I believe he is influenced, deceived by the Islamic faith,” Jones said in a telephone interview. “His Indonesian stepfather was of the Muslim faith. When President Obama went to school in Indonesia, he put down his religion as Islam on the registration papers that I saw.
“In the speech he gave in Egypt, he said Islam has always been a part of the American story, which of course is not close to being true. He made a statement that America is no longer a Christian nation.”
Asked whether he felt any responsibility for the UN officials and Afghans who died in rioting sparked by the Koran-burning, Jones replies: “No. We do not. The violent element of Islam used the Koran-burning as an excuse. They have been doing that for hundreds of years.”
The influence of Jones’s Dove World Outreach church in Gainesville, Florida, is waning. Two of his own daughters have fled and Jones’s flock has dwindled to fewer than 30.
Only 14 attended last Sunday’s sermon, when Jones compared himself to the Old Testament prophet Joshua and to Martin Luther King. “Christianity started with only a few people,” he reminds me. “Jesus Christ himself was betrayed and crucified.”
Signs saying “Islam is of the Devil” dot the lawn outside Jones’s church. His website sells mugs, T-shirts and visored caps bearing the same slogan. Isn’t this hate speech, I ask him.
“Absolutely not. This is actually what the Bible says. Jesus Christ says he is the only way, so if a religion promotes another way, then according to the Bible alone, it ends up it is of the devil.”
He insists that “Muslims are welcome to our church. We have fed and clothed Muslims”. He has no problem with the people, but “we are radically against the religion. We believe the Koran, if strictly followed, does indeed lead to violence and terrorism.
“That part of the Koran we definitely do hate.”
Jones hasn’t read the Koran, but says he has seen its fruits and relies on the judgment of “many experts around the world who have read, studied, grew up in Muslim countries, speak Arabic”.
After a personal appeal last September from defence secretary Robert Gates, Jones promised not to ignite the stack of Korans he had prepared for a bonfire. It was “very, very difficult” to break that promise, but the torching in a portable barbecue inside his church was “not the same type of setting”.
“It was about the judgment. If the Koran was found guilty, we felt obligated to offer some kind of punishment.”
Over the internet, he offered followers the choice of burning, shredding, drowning or shooting by firing squad. “We let people vote on it. The majority – several hundred – voted for burning.”
The deaths of at least two dozen people are “tragical”, but Jones insists he is fighting for the rights of persecuted Christian minorities around the world.
“I think the government of Afghanistan is to blame. This radical element of Islam, they are not concerned about us condemning them. They have to be called to accountability before the UN.”
Koran-burning “is provocative, yes”, he admits, “but it’s not an excuse to kill people.” He agrees that dialogue might be a better way to fight for the rights of Christians in Muslim countries, “but sometimes, somewhat radical methods, stirring the pot, sometimes that has to happen for change to take place”.
Jones’s Florida compound bristles with weapons. “I carry a 40 calibre semi-automatic everywhere I go. I have a permit.” The FBI told him a $2.4 million reward awaits his killer in Pakistan.
None of this has deterred him. He is planning a demonstration in front of the largest mosque in the US, in Dearborn, Michigan, on April 22nd. “We may, sooner or later, put together a trial – like the ‘International Judge the Koran day’ – we would put Muhammad, his life, his teachings, the things he did, on trial.”