Pastor, media star? Bizarre twists of Koran saga (News Feature)

By Peer Meinert Sep 10, 2010, 22:45 GMT

Gainesville, Florida - A provincial farce? Media hype? Exhibitionism of a misguided pastor?

Evangelical Christian pastor Terry Jones and his 50-member church have provoked Muslim anger and a media fireworks with plans to burn copies of Islam's holy book, the Koran, to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks by Muslim fanatic terrorists.

Now, the evangelist has the world awaiting his next move.

US President Barack Obama, worried about the welfare of his troops in Muslim countries, appealed on Thursday (and again on Friday) about Jones' on-again, off-again plan to burn Korans, saying he hopes Jones listens to his 'better angels.'

On Thursday, four FBI agents paid a discreet visit to Jones. In Gainesville, people said the religious leader received quite a talking-to.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates also called the fanatic cleric.

A lot of attention for a provincial pastor and his tiny church.

Gainesville, the quiet, introspective university town in the southern United States 'Bible Belt,' is at pains to digest the fuss. There are lots of churches in town. Most residents had never heard of Terry Jones.

'If the media hadn't played the whole thing up, nobody would have bothered with a few dozen crazies,' complained Travis McCain, 22. And yet even if Jones really does cancel his Koran burning, the damage will have been done to the US image, McCain said.

The aspiring firefighter shook his head, as do many people in this town of 120,000.

For almost a week, television networks and their giant antennae have camped outside Jones' Dove World Outreach Center. Every day, the pastor with the bushy handle-bar moustache walks up to the cameras and makes the most of free air time to rant against Islam.

Despite scorching heat and tropical humidity, Jones wears an immaculate dark suit. He talks coolly - a man who takes himself seriously.

'Pastor Jones loves publicity. He glories in it,' one resident said in the middle-class neighbourhood Mile Run.

White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs quipped that Jones 'has more people at his press conference than he does in his pews on a Sunday service.'

The mood outside the church with the battered cross is a mix of media siege and folk festival.

While reporters seek out Jones, representatives of a 'better' America protest. A nun in white robes cycles up and down, shouting insults through a megaphone, calling him a 'phony Christian' filled with hate.

In fact, the pastor's plans were hardly a secret, says Sady Kolb, 69. Some time ago, she recalls, he put up a sign at the church saying 'Islam is of the Devil' - also the name of his book.

So what is this? A media creation or the bizarre musings of a publicity-hungry, misguided provincial pastor?

It was the US military commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, who put the spotlight on Jones and his provocative plans earlier this week.

The general's comments unleashed a wave: From Afghan President Hamid Karzai to German Chancellor Angela Merkel to US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, global leaders expressed worry. The delusions of a small-time pastor became world news.

But even the decision to suspend the burning plans is puzzling. The very fact that a well-known Islam-hater allegedly reached the decision after talking to local imam - Muhammad Musri of the Islamic Society of Central Florida - is striking.

Like two statesmen who had resolved a major diplomatic problem, they appeared before reporters Thursday afternoon. Jones announced he was cancelling plans to burn Korans in exchange for alleged commitments from New York Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to change the planned location of a controversial New York mosque near the site of the terrorist attacks and to meet with him Saturday.

It was the first time most observers heard there was even a connection between the Koran burning and the mosque.

Rauf - who on Friday was celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan - has made clear that he had neither spoken to Jones nor made any such commitments.

The Florida pastor began backtracking, telling NBC Friday morning: 'I was lied to.' The flip-flopping and grand-standing continued, but by late Friday afternoon, it appeared that Jones would not burn the Korans - at least not on Saturday.

'Seriously, seriously, seriously,' he promised, he had called off his plans to burn the Koran. Maybe he would meet with the New York imam on Monday. Or Tuesday ...