Terry Jones, the Dove World Outreach Center pastor who plans to lead a mass Koran-burning on — and in commemoration of — 9/11, said on MSNBC today that his intent is to send a “very clear, radical message to Muslims,” that the United States will not tolerate sharia law in its courts.
Jones said he fears that the U.S. will become like Europe, where as the Muslims “gained in population, they also began to demand sharia law, sharia courts, which is a very violent form of punishment.” The Koran-burning day, he said, is about sending a “warning” that “that is not welcomed in America.”
Jones was talking with Chris Matthews, who asked him whether he thought people would have a positive or negative reaction to his plan. “I think it’s going to be positive,” Jones said.
“We are dealing with a society and with the sharia law that condones the killing and stoning of homosexuals, the stoning of adulterers,” he continued.
Said Jones:
And what we hope to accomplish by the burning of the Koran is to send a very clear, it is indeed a radical message, but a very clear radical message to Muslims, to sharia law, that that is not welcomed in America.
Matthews also asked whether a personal phone call from President Bush would change Jones’ mind. Jones said no: “We are going to continue ahead,” he replied.
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Jillian Rayfield
Jillian Rayfield is a Reporter/Blogger for TPM, and started as a News Intern in May 2009. She graduated from Cornell University in May 2008 with a degree in Film, and worked as a Research Assistant for a market research firm in London in between.