– Sat Sep 11, 10:24 am ET
NEW YORK – A Florida pastor says his church will "not today, not ever" burn a Quran, even if a mosque is built near ground zero.

Pastor Terry Jones had threatened to burn the Muslim holy book on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks over plans to build an Islamic center near where terrorists brought down the World Trade Center nine years ago.

He flew to New York and appeared on NBC's "Today" show. He says that his Gainesville, Fla., church's goal was "to expose that there is an element of Islam that is very dangerous and very radical."

He tells NBC that "we have definitely accomplished that mission." He says no meeting is planned with the imam leading the center but he hopes one will take place.

A "Burn a Koran Day" banner outside his church has been taken down.


what do you guys think of the entire incident.. was it just a publicity stunt by the pastor??

the other day I was discussing about this news with one of mine colleagues (white) i really liked her response over this, She said, this is such a ridiculous and immoral thing and American Govt should cut off his tongue so that no one else can have courage to speak like this..:) 

That would be stupid, because it would be against America's freedom of speech.

If say some pastor ever did this against the Sikhs, I think there would be Sikh jathe doing protests outside his door (just like Sikhs have done in the past). That is the proper way of dealing with this. And you're correct, the pastor is looking for publicity.