Florida pastor will not burn Quran ‘not today, not ever’

WASHINGTON - As America observed the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks Saturday, a Florida pastor who earned international condemnation with his plans to burn the Quran announced he will not do so - “not today, not ever”.

Pastor Terry Jones’s announcement came early Saturday, shortly after US President Barack Obama’s call to Americans to mark the anniversary of the Sep 11, 2001 attacks by recapturing the sense of common purpose felt on that dreadful day.

In his weekly radio and internet address, the president said: “If there is a lesson to be drawn on this anniversary, it is this: We are one nation, one people - bound not only by grief, but by a set of common ideals.”

“By giving back to our communities, by serving people in need, we reaffirm our ideals - in defiance of those who would do us grave harm.”

Obama alluded in his radio address to the contentious atmosphere in the wake of controversies over Jones’ threat to burn the Quran and a move to build an Islamic center and a mosque at Ground Zero.

“This is a time of difficulty for our country,” Obama said. “And it is often in such moments that some try to stoke bitterness - to divide us based on our differences, to blind us to what we have in common.

“But on this day, we are reminded that at our best, we do not give in to this temptation,” Obama said.

“We stand with one another. We fight alongside one another. We do not allow ourselves to be defined by fear, but by the hopes we have for our families, for our nation, and for a brighter future.”

Obama himself marked the day, when nearly 3,000 people died in terrorist attacks, with a moment of silence at 8.46 a.m., the time the first plane hit the World Trade Center in New York City.

The president also planned to attend a memorial service at the Pentagon and participate in another programme in Washington.

First lady Michelle Obama was to join former first lady Laura Bush in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the fourth plane crashed after passengers rushed into the cockpit. Vice President Joe Biden is in New York for the service at Ground Zero.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)