A would-be Koran-burner in Amarillo, Texas was foiled by a 23-year-old Texas skateboarder named Jacob Isom, who was among a group of people protesting a planned burning on Saturday. As Isom described it: “I snuck up behind him and took his Koran, he said something about burning the Koran, I said ‘Dude you have no Koran,’ and ran off.”
David Grisham, who announced the plans to burn the Koran in support of Florida Pastor Terry Jones, who called off his own planned Koran burning, is the director of Repent Amarillo. According to the Amarillo Globe-News, the group “aims to deter promiscuity, homosexuality and non-Christian worship practices through confrontation and prayer.”
Repent Amarillo has recently led a boycott against Houston after it elected Mayor Annise Parker, who is a lesbian. It also targeted a group of local swingers back In March.
According to the Globe-News, Isom was one of about 200 people who gathered to support or protest Grisham’s plan, and says he grabbed Grisham’s copy “when he became distracted while arguing with several residents at Sam Houston Park about the merits of burning the Islamic holy book.”
“You’re just trying to start Holy Wars,” Isom said to Grisham, before giving the Koran to a Muslim leader, who was also present.
Watch local Amarillo station News Channel 10’s coverage:
h/t ThinkProgress.
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.
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