Pastor won't drop his plans to burn Quran on Saturday

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A top general, the Obama administration and political and religious leaders from around the world have decried a plan by the leader of a small Florida church to burn copies of Islam's holiest text to mark the Sept. 11 attacks. The Rev. Terry Jones is not backing down.

Jones said Wednesday he also has received much encouragement, with supporters mailing copies of the Quran to his Dove Outreach Center, which has about 50 followers.

"As of right now, we are not convinced that backing down is the right thing," said Jones, 58. He was accompanied by an armed escort and said he has received more than 100 death threats since saying in July he would stage "International Burn-a-Quran Day" on Saturday.

Muslims consider the Quran the word of God and insist it be treated with the utmost respect.

The book, according to Jones, is evil because it espouses something other than biblical truth and incites violent behavior among Muslims.

Fearing the burning could spark anti-American violence, the State Department ordered U.S. embassies around the world to assess their security. The posts are to warn U.S. citizens in countries where protests may occur.

The move came a day after Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, said the burning would endanger troops and "images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists ... to inflame public opinion and incite violence."

Petraeus spoke Wednesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and "both agreed that burning of a Quran would undermine our effort in Afghanistan," according to military spokesman Col. Erik Gunhus, and would "create problems for our Afghan partners."

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Jones' plans were outrageous, and along with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, urged him to cancel the event.

"It is regrettable a pastor in Gainesville, Florida, with a church of no more than 50 people, can make this outrageous and distrustful, disgraceful plan and get the world's attention, but that's the world we live in right now," she told the Council on Foreign Relations.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin also weighed in, saying in a Facebook post that though people have the constitutional right to burn the Quran, doing so would be an "insensitive and an unnecessary provocation — much like building a mosque at Ground Zero."

Conservative radio and TV host Glenn Beck wrote in a blog that burning the Quran is like burning the flag or the Bible, something people can do in the United States, but shouldn't.

Dove Outreach Center follows the Pentecostal tradition, which teaches that the Holy Spirit can manifest itself in the modern day.