The desecration of the Holy Quran "an abhorrent act”

As the US State Department condemned the desecration of the Holy Quran in Florida, one of the two controversial pastors responsible for this act said on Friday he would now visit America’s largest mosque to protest against ‘radical’ Islam. Pastors Terry Jones and Wayne Sapp, who run a fringe church in Florida with less than a dozen followers, have stirred an international controversy by burning a copy of the holy book inside their establishment on March 20. Sate Department’s deputy spokesman Mark Toner told a briefing in Washington that the Obama administration strongly condemned the burning. Speaking at a press conference on the situation in Libya, the US official termed the burning of the Holy Quran an “abhorrent act”. Pastor Jones, who created a similar controversy in September last year but later rescinded his plans to burn the book, apparently is enjoying the notoriety the burning has brought to him and his small religious outfit. On Friday, he said he would visit the Islamic Centre of America, in Dearborn, Michigan, on April 22. The centre is one of the largest mosques in North America and services much of Dearborn’s large Muslim population. He said he would protest outside the mosque “against Shariah laws and radical Islam”. “It is necessary that we set very clear lines for Muslims that are here in America,” Pastor Jones said in a written statement. “They are welcome to be here. They are welcome to worship. They are welcome to build mosques. But we do expect them to honour and obey our Constitution. “If they desire to change our Constitution, in other words to institute Shariah, then these Muslims are no longer welcome in our country. Now is the time that we make a very, very clear statement to radical Islam.”