Florida book burning/cretinfest called off; however...

[the_archfiend]

First, the good news: the Koran burning got cancelled.

The bad news? It was apparently done in response to a meeting than only one party seems to have agreed to:

The Rev. Terry Jones, who had planned the burning this weekend on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, said he will travel Saturday to New York to meet with the religious leader behind the planned center, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, about a new location.

But Rauf and Imam Muhammad Musri, a Florida Muslim leader who appeared with Jones, said no agreement on a meeting or relocation of the mosque had been reached.

Rauf issued a statement later Thursday.

"I am glad that Pastor Jones has decided not to burn any Qurans. However, I have not spoken to Pastor Jones or Imam Musri. I am surprised by their announcement. We are not going to toy with our religion or any other. Nor are we going to barter. We are here to extend our hands to build peace and harmony."

But wait! It gets better!

"We are canceling the event because they have agreed to move the ground zero mosque," Jones said, claiming his announcement was based on several conversations with Musri.

But the latter said he had not spoken with Rauf and was not authorized to say the Islamic center would be moved. Jones may have "stretched" their conversations to say there was a deal, Musri told CNN. He added that Rauf's office told him they would welcome Jones to a meeting if he canceled the Quran burning.

Riiiiiight.

If anyone needed any more proof that Jones might be a little cracked in the head, all of this recent strangeness probably serves that purpose. But if not, this recent piece from the online Guardian (which I first heard about indirectly on Thom Hartman's show when he referenced the article in Germany's Stern that it's largely based on) may give you all the proof you need:

But a former member of the (Christian Community of Cologne) said Jones exerted a "commander-like" hand over the "sect-like" group. The former follower, speaking anonymously to Stern magazine, said Jones used "psychological pressure" to keep members in line. Friction between the pastor and the group grew steadily, culminating in his departure in 2008, he said. Since then the community has shrunk to between 60 and 80 members.

Jones was at odds with the German authorities over his claim to hold a doctorate, and in 2002 he was fined €3,000 Euros (£2,478) by a Cologne court for falsely assuming the title.

After Jones's dismissal, a new dispute broke out over allegations that he owed the community a five-figure sum of money, Thomas Müller, a community member, told regional newspaper Der Westen. Jones eventually repaid the money, Müller said.

At first blush, I merely thought Jones was merely being stupid and fanatical.

Right now, I'm going with the idea that he's full-blown wacko, not that that prevents him from also suffering from the two previous conditions I mentioned.

Comments

[kilted-kelt.livejournal.com]

Hello,

I'm a new person at the Chicago SF group and was going through an old post of people and their LJ pages. I recently (couple days ago) got back into blogging over on my neglected LJ page. Saw your link to your LJ and liked your views on religion among other things.

[the-archfiend.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Feel free to keep reading, though I probably don't update the damn thing often enough (for my liking, at least).