THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Pastor Terry Jones is a homophobic used furniture salesman who has become famous solely through the use of controversy.The 59-year-old runs the Dove World Outreach Centre in Gainsville, Florida, whose congregation numbers just a few dozen.
The church is based in a 20-acre compound where Jones lives with his wife, Sylvia, and is said to regularly patrol the grounds with a pistol strapped to his hip.
He took over the church in 1996 on the death of its founder, Dr Don Northrup, after spending 20 years as a missionary in Europe, including Germany.
His chief enemies are homosexuals and Muslims, although he insists it is only radical Islam which he opposes.
In the most recent incident, which sparked the slaughter in Afghanistan, Pastor Jones was preaching at a service at his church on March 20 when his colleage, Pastor Wayne Sapp, set a copy of the Koran alight.
However, Pastor Jones denied any responsibility for the riot in Mazar-e Sharif, in which around 20 people died, including two who were reportedly beheaded, in what is the worst incident of its kind in recent years.
He said he was "absolutely not responsible" for the atrocities, and tried to move the conversation to Muslims, saying: "We must take a serious, serious look at Islam. It's a violent religion that promotes acts of violence. I believe we need to bring this before the UN." » | Andy Bloxham | Saturday, April 02, 2011
