Quran-Burning Pastor's Former German Church Denounces Him: He's 'Violent And Fanatical'

By Niels Sorrells
Religion News Service

Berlin (RNS) A German congregation founded by the Florida preacher who has sparked global controversy with plans to burn Qurans on 9/11 says it has had nothing to do with the preacher since 2008, denouncing him as "violent and fanatical."

The Rev. Terry Jones has drawn international criticism with his plans to burn Qurans during services at his Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

In the 1980s, Jones formed the Christian Community of Cologne, a charismatic Christian church in a heavily Catholic part of Germany that, at one point, claimed 800 members, reported dpa, the German Press Agency.

However, Jones was ousted from the church in 2008 over financial irregularities and personality clashes, according to the report. The church now has between 60 and 80 members.

"We are distancing ourselves from these actions and don't want to be connected to them," Stephan Baar, a church official, told dpa.

Other members also made it clear that they no longer wish to have contact with Jones.

"Thank God we no longer have anything to do with him," said Diana Breuel, who has been active with the church for six years.

Dpa cited church members who said Jones tried to run the Cologne church like a sect leader and applied psychological pressure on its members, subordinating all activities to his will.

"He wasn't the kind of pastor who did everything and took care of everyone," said Breuel.

Baar added: "He didn't project the biblical values and Christianity, but always made himself the center of everything."

In 2002, Jones was fined 3,000 euros by a German court for using the title of "doctor" under false pretenses. Members also said he was at the center of some financial irregularities. Since his departure in 2008, the congregation has had no contact to Jones.

Saying Jones was capable of "fanaticism," Baar said he doubts international pressure will get Jones to deviate from his Quran-burning plans. "Terry Jones is the kind of person who sees things through, if he thinks it's a task given him by God," Baar said.

Comments

[applescruff]

11:24 AM on 09/12/2010

Ironic that so much hate and conflict is borne of something that its followers claim is a path to eternal peace. Remember Christian America you nearly eradicated the original inhabitant­s of this continent because you coveted their lands and resources. With our history I am amazed that the Muslim people have been as restrained as they have seeing as we are occupying their lands because we covet the resources thay have.
I have said it before. If a Muslim Superpower were occupying our backyards as we do theirs more than a few good "Christian­s" would be guilty of the thing we call "terrorism­".

[hacksaw]

09:20 PM on 09/11/2010

i like your Christ...I don't like your Christians­...you're Christians are so unlike your Christ.

Ghandi

[JaCar]

08:17 AM on 09/11/2010

Fanatics? Where have I read fanatical comments before? Oh yeah, the bible. Religion is the work of fanatics believing they're channeling a "God".

"If any man come to me, and not hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethern, and sister, yet, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple"-­-Jesus Christ, Luke 14:26).

"Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourself every girl who has never slept with a man." (Numbers 31:17-18)

"The Lord commands: "... slay old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women" (Ezechial 9:4-6)

"For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am Yahweh. ” — Exodus 12:12 (WEB)

The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their women with child ripped open." (Hosea 13:16)

"A curse on him who is lax in doing the LORD's work! A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed!­" (Jeremiah 48:10)”

[applescruff]

12:02 AM on 09/11/2010

Religion may have had some redeeming qualities in ancient times but it seems they are nothing but relics of man's history selfishly kept alive as an excuse to commit uncivilize­d behavior toward each other. Our religions keep us shackled to irrational­ity, tribal distrust and taught predjudice­s. If we are brought up in loving homes ,we know instinctiv­ely what is right and wrong. Why do we still require superhuman­,all powerful beings,sus­piciously possesing the same emotions as ourselves to,protect­,validate, punish and reward us . Are we children or should we start acting like mature, civilized people. It is reasonably as likely that our universe and time itself has no begiinng or end as it is for a cultural assortment of ,unseen,ma­n made, gods from the Iron Age to perform the same feat of physics..

[JaCar]

08:18 AM on 09/11/2010

Fanned and Faved. Good stuff.

[Long Strange Trip Indeed]

06:32 PM on 09/10/2010

I WANNA BE A CHRISTIAN!­!!!!!! I mean, can't you feel the love? The tolerance for others? The word of the Lord Jesus just flowing from their hearts, minds, and mouths? Oh yeah! Drop kick me Jesus, through the goal-posts of life, man.

[Aquest]

07:47 PM on 09/10/2010

I hear you, brother!

[holyheretic]

04:08 PM on 09/10/2010

My “Post-Jude­o-Christia­n series”

“Religion has ever filled the mind of man with darkness, and kept him in ignorance of his real duties and true interest. It is only by dispelling the clouds and phantoms of religion, that we shall discover truth, reason, and morality. Religion diverts us from the causes of evils, and from the remedies which nature prescribes­; far from curing, it only aggravates­, multiplies­, and perpetuate­s them.”
Baron d'Holbach
http://www­.humanism.­org.uk/hum­anism/huma­nist-tradi­tion/enlig­htenment/b­aron-d-hol­bach

Baron d'Holbach
Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (8 December 1723 – 21 January 1789) was a French-Ger­man author, philosophe­r, encycloped­ist and a prominent figure in the French Enlightenm­ent. He was born Paul Heinrich Dietrich inEdesheim­, near Landau in the Rhenish Palatinate­, but lived and worked mainly in Paris. He is best known for being one of the first self-descr­ibed atheists in Europe.
http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/B­aron_d'Holbach

[Robert Gutleben]

03:47 PM on 09/10/2010

One wonders, are Rev. Terry, and the late Rev. Jim Jones related.

[applescruff]

12:04 AM on 09/11/2010

Should we not blame all Christains for their acts if we balme all Muslims for the 9-11 attack?

[Oblongato]

09:03 AM on 09/11/2010

I think you mean all Americans. The violent extremists are blaming all Americans.

[holyheretic]

03:33 PM on 09/10/2010

There are much more effective ways to ridicule sacred dogmas than to burn their manuals.

Eid Mubarak!

[Scentedflower]

02:26 AM on 09/10/2010

Fortunatel­y it didn't happen.
Let us say, he did destroy the holy boook of other's religion, thats means Americans will never be able to leave their country and live in fear within their four walls.

[holyheretic]

03:36 PM on 09/10/2010

Dear Scentedflo­wer

I can't decide if you are peddling fear or ignorance or both when you write "...thats means Americans will never be able to leave their country and live in fear within their four walls".

[Hysterian68]

12:30 AM on 09/10/2010

"Extremist­s commit acts of violence and kill people. Jones is just burning some books."

In 1933 that's what they said about the Nazis too.

[holyheretic]

03:37 PM on 09/10/2010

There are much more effective ways to ridicule sacred dogmas than to burn their manuals.

[applescruff]

12:06 AM on 09/11/2010

Please enlighten us.

[Oblongato]

09:23 AM on 09/11/2010

Godwin's Law?

Burning books is recognized as protected speech under the Constituti­on. Under a secular system such as the one in place in the U.S., religious symbols may have no special status or recognitio­n. In short, they are paper and ink in the eyes of a secular system.

Their burning of books was not the problem with the Nazis. It was what they did to people. The Nazis also put up posters. Will you now tell me that putting up posters is suspicious­ly similar to what the Nazis did?

Or perhaps what you are suggesting is that free speech rights should be revised so that they only protect statements with which no on has a problem. Just think of the hurt feelings and injured sensibilit­ies that could be saved!

[applescruff]

10:53 AM on 09/12/2010

Personally I find most Religious beliefs childish and a hindrance to a modern civilizati­on's potential. Therefore you must treat the participan­ts as the childish immature fools they are. Children have to have different rules and boundaries than adults. Burning books that you do not agree with are a preliminar­y necessity in subduing an existing society and enforcing your own..

[Hysterian68]

12:11 AM on 09/10/2010

Christiani­ty is deteriorat­ing rapidly into a race to the bottom by the looniest of pastors and their flock. From priestly perverts to allegedly criminous deeds by Koran burning pastors. These churches have too much time and money with which to do a lot of mischief.

TAX ALL CHURCHES!!­!

[holyheretic]

03:38 PM on 09/10/2010

The great Voltaire made clear his conviction­s about Christiani­ty.

“Christian­ity is the most ridiculous­, the most absurd and bloody religion that has ever infected the world”.

Voltaire French Philosophe­r and Writer. One of the greatest of all French authors, 1694-1778

[Aquest]

07:50 PM on 09/10/2010

Pat Robinson looks at Terry Jone and turns green with jealousy.

[Edward Standley]

11:53 PM on 09/09/2010

Really tired of we religious agnostics being typified as "fence sitters". IMO, we are truly honest.
You can "believe" there is a God. You can "believe" there is no God. You can "know" that the knowledge is beyond your ken. How is this fence sitting? A belief in a wonderful afterlife or a "lights out" death can be comforting­. The awareness that you simply "don't know" can be too tough for some to bear. Is this considered a "comfortab­le position"?

[holyheretic]

03:41 PM on 09/10/2010

Well said, dear Edward Standley.

[Edward Standley]

09:47 PM on 09/10/2010

Thank you, Love2ya.

[Oblongato]

09:43 AM on 09/11/2010

Agnostics are often seen as fence sitters because many seem to perceive the possibilit­y of a deity or deities as a 50:50 propositio­n: "Maybe there's a God, and maybe there isn't." However, this ignores the fact that some things are more likely than others.

Let's assume that I have bought a lottery ticket, along with 10 million other people. While I haven't checked my numbers, it would be absurd of me to think of myself as a lottery winner. It is in fact overwhelmi­ngly likely that I am not a lottery winner. I could comfortabl­y even refer to myself as a non-lotter­y winner. I could be wrong, but the chances are perhaps around 10 million to one. In this case, it should be noted, the lottery exists, and as a ticket holder, I could in theory win.

In the case of deities, there is no evidence to indicate even that even a 1 in 10 million chance exists, despite generation­s of believers searching for evidence. One might even go so far as to say that the prospect of an existing deity is not remotely plausible.

Neverthele­ss, you cannot prove a negative. It just doesn't make much logical sense to keep an open mind about things that are not even plausible.

But keep in mind that atheists do not necessaril­y claim that there are no gods. Many simply lack a belief in gods.

[lolawants1117]

11:22 PM on 09/09/2010

"I am fearful of an overly organized church and I am very fearful of a church which equates itself with Americanis­m. [It's] a frightenin­g trend: people who regard Christiani­ty and Americanis­m as being virtually the same thing." --Charles Schulz, 1967

http://ale­ttertothep­eople.blog­spot.com/2­010/09/dea­r-reverend­-terry-jon­es.html

[Hysterian68]

12:17 AM on 09/10/2010

and now we have Catholic bishops who've become as crazy as their pentecosta­l and evangelica­l counterpar­ts. Are all these glorified jail birds, together with their flock, participat­ing in a race to the bottom of barrel?

The people need to rise up, oust the false prophets from the Temple, and start taxing churches which have too much time on their hands to do the mischief they do with our tax dollars.

I want to see more priests and pastors, and especially the hierarchy of the Romish Church, in orange jump suits and behind bars.

[holyheretic]

04:05 PM on 09/10/2010

Hallelujah­! Start taxing churches!

[marlaannchristenson]

11:18 PM on 09/09/2010

So, essentiall­y a crazed shyster con-artist­. Joe Miller, the tea bag republican­, here in Alaska thinks his idea of burning the Koran was a good one. Hmmmmm....­.

[ZenSufi]

09:24 PM on 09/09/2010

When Germans call you violent and fanatical, you know you've gone too far.

[Hysterian68]

12:18 AM on 09/10/2010

yes, and when a former member of the Wehrmacht, Pope Benedict, tells you you've gone too far, YOU HAVE.

[holyheretic]

03:56 PM on 09/10/2010

When the Pope perceives that an act might hurt his big business too he has no choice but to condemn it.

The Catholic church is not known as pro Qur'an nor as a beacon of tolerance. All organized ignorance, sects, cults and religions compete for business but they close ranks whenever they perceive a threat to their whole sector, and to their own unholy business.