Apparantly the Quran burning is off. Pastor Terry Jones has agreed to call it off and meet with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf of the controversial Cordoba House. I suppose that Rauf gets to look like the peacemaker here, while Jones gets to milk the media attention a little longer.
According to Spiegel Online, Pastor Terry Jones already has a history of inflammatory conduct – in Germany:
What is less well known is that the pastor led a charismatic evangelical church, the Christian Community of Cologne, in the western German city up until 2009. Last year, however, the members of the congregation kicked founder Jones out, because of his radicalism. One of the church’s current leaders, Stephan Baar, also told the German news agency DPA that there had been suspicions of financial irregularities in the church surrounding Jones.
A “climate of fear and control” had previously prevailed in the congregation, says one former member of the church who does not want to be named. Instead of free expression, “blind obedience” was demanded, he says.
So Germany is shipping these crazies to America? Talk about coal to Newcastle.
Apparently, Jones ran a successful Church in Cologne – which he believed was “a city of Hell that was founded by Nero’s mother.” He had a knack for seizing on popular social issues and working them into his church’s mission. By the end, its membership totaled 800-1000 members. But eventually it all got too much:
By the end of 2007, the community had had enough. Members confronted him and tried to change the direction of the church. But Terry Jones refused to make changes, they say. In the end, Jones, his wife and their fellow preachers were expelled from the church and he moved back to the US. “The community imploded,” says [Andrew] Schäfer. It only has some 80 active members today.
Andrew Schäfer is a “sect commissioner,” an official who monitors the actions of various churches in Germany. He concludes that Jones’ current actions are a reaction to his sudden loss of stature and power. That makes a great deal of sense.
The Smoking Gun has found a copy of the Dove World Outreach Academy Handbook. Hopefully this is a rough draft, because it contains the kind of spelling we associate with teapartyers, “The goal of the Academy is for each student to develop a stabile lifestyle of Discipline in order to become a strong apostolic Fife Fold Minister in our Apostolic Ministry System.”
Requirements include uniforms, showers that must be kept short (5-7 min), weekly weigh-ins to keep tabs on weight and no visits with outside family.
Shirley Phelps Roper, daughter of Fred Phelps and one of the leaders of Westboro, is irritated at Terry Jones and the media that’s sensationalizing him – and not her:
It’s that in 2008 she and her father’s Topeka flock set fire to a Quran in plain view on a Washington, D.C., street and nobody seemed to care.
“We did it a long time before this guy,” Phelps-Roper said by telephone from a street corner in downtown Chicago, scene of the latest Westboro picket — against Jews this time, not gays.
The difference could be that in 2008 many news media outlets had decided to ignore the group’s routine of spewing hatred at funerals of fallen American soldiers.
So when Fred Phelps, calling Muhammad a “pedophilic gigolo,” went online and invited people to attend the burning, most stayed away.
So he is a wannabe cult leader who is to stupid to maintain control of his cults. Next he’ll probably take what few followers he has and move to South America.
Consequences of “free speech”, part one.
Apparently not…
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/pastor-nyc-imam-agreed-move-mosque/
NYC imam denies ‘deal’ with Koran-burning pastor
“Jones has since told the media that he was “lied to” about the deal to move the mosque; but some speculate that the announcement may have been a cover story allowing Jones to back down under severe public pressure.”
That was my take. Lying out his ass to save face.
Talk brave only, but really a coward, like many big mouth lying christians.
By the way, I get virus warning from karpersky when I come to this site since yesterday. Anyone having this problem?
not yesterday @ 6ish pm cst. I will check when I get home.
Jones is much less preacher than he is con man. Longish article here on his very interesting financial arrangements:
http://blogs.alternet.org/bettenoir/tag/dove-world-outreach-center/
We need to see Terry Jones and Fred Phelps in a cage match! I’m sure we could whip those boys up into a frenzy to compete for the Biggest Nutjob title. (my money is on Phelps)
Obama was on TV a few hours ago.
I don’t like his double standard.
Last time he defended the zero ground mosque because the freedom of religion the freedom of speech.
But now he did not defend the priest that wanted to burn the Quran. He did not defend the priest rights to burn the book and he did not defend the freedom of speech and religion. Even though it is not very wise to do so.
I am not fond of that priest, but now he gives the signal that Islam has more rights than Christianity in the US. I expect Palin to become president in 2012 by doing this. It will backfire big time.
Nobody was talking about stopping the preacher from doing his stupid stunt, unlike those who were vocally opposing the very *existence* of the Park Av. Mosque. So the situations are not really parallel; it was unnecessary for Obama or anyone else to defend what nobody was attacking as a matter of right.
People who think he’s giving Muslims more rights than Christians will see this as the 20th or 100th datapoint, not the first.
Which is to say that people who think he’s giving Muslims more rights than Christians will see his ordering a falafel wrap for lunch as evidence of such.
“The Smoking Gun has found a copy of the Dove World Outreach Academy Handbook. Hopefully this is a rough draft, because it contains the kind of spelling we associate with teapartyers,”
You talk about spelling and can’t spell “partiers”?
Hypocrisy is the tribute that virtue pays to vice.
Muphry’s law
What it shows is the difference between Europe and the U.S. in terms of Religion. If you’re a blabbering, delusional radical – you’re being called out on that. And get your ass sent home!
We wouldn’t have a Palin, Limbaugh, Beck etc. etc. problem, if they would really be called out on the BS they are producing!
There was a poll in Belgium. Only 25% of the people thought that god created the universe.
The other did not claim this.
Another thing in Belgium is that nearly everyone is shooting down any Catholics priests by now after discovering that paedophilia was a widespread phenomena starting with children age 2 in many catholic schools and places. People are openly very angry at anything related to what appears to be a priest or religion.
We wouldn’t have a Palin, Limbaugh, Beck etc. etc. problem, if they would really be called out on the BS they are producing!
And so Geert Wilders and Jean-Marie Le Pen were what, exactly?
Mis-understood?
Beaten as children?
Nutters?
It’s got to be one of the above …
Probably. I just have a problem with the popular meme that nutters aren’t as thick in the grass in Europe as they are in the US. Usually slightly different excuses (though religion does come up quite a bit across the pond, much to the chagrin of your clearly more secular societies), but same essential message.
Does any one have any idea whether Westboro with all their high profile activities has ever convinced anyone of anything?