And God spoke to Terry Jones...

-Maeve Dwyer
The world may breathe easier today, and perhaps lend their thoughts to more pressing matters, knowing the threatened Qur'an burning by Terry Jones and his congregation at the Dove World Outreach Center officially has been canceled. In an interview this morning on NBC's Today Show Pastor Terry Jones announced that just as God spoke to Abraham commending his obedience while saving Isaac from his fate, he too had been blessed with divine council telling him his point had been made and there was no need to proceed with the burning. "We feel that, whenever we started this out, one of our reason was to show, to expose that there is an element of Islam is very dangerous and very radical. I feel we have definitely accomplished that mission," Jones said this morning in reference to widespread protests and death that occurred when NATO forces open fired on protesters scaling a compound fence in Afghanistan.

As the Washington Post reported, the commotion started on July 12 when Jones started posting various anti-Islamic messages on Twitter including '9/11/2010 Int Burn a Koran Day'. A Facebook group apparently amassing over 500 members was later created (though it seems to have been deleted more recently...). Euro Islam.Info, run by a Harvard Professor, first reported the story, however little attention was paid to the pastor of the approx. 50 member congregation. The Qur'an burning threat sprang onto the national and international media stage only this past week or so in the wake of all the Park51 controversy. A CNN interview with Jones from July gained widespread circulation on Youtube. Protests sparked across the Middle East and US embassy were asked to access their security situations.

The story caught the attention of high level personal both within this country and abroad. American congregations have burnt Qur'an's before, but there was worry with regard to the media already surrounding Park51 and American- Islamic relations. Obama, Hilary Clinton, and General Petraeus all made personal condemnations of the proposed act, insisting US troops abroad would be in danger. Defense Secretary Gates even personally called Jones to persuade him not to act.

I find it absolutely amazing that Jones, whose church in Gainsville holds low standing within the community, had the ability to create such worldwide uproar. A man who usually adresses no more than 50 people, commanded the attention of the nation's highest offices. The media jumped on the story, thrusting it to stages that should have been well beyond its reach. (And now look, here I am blogging about this!). I find a large part of myself amazed that the president, out of all the other concerns he must be faced with, felt this large enough to speak on, paid such attention to it, ensuring that people across the world would know of the insignificant pastor's plans. Furthermore, that the issue was even brought to the president's attention in the first place is astounding. Do we look at social media for that? The media's obsession with American-Islamic relations? Understandably, had images of the event found their way online, they would make prime resources to spur anti-American sentiment. Still, I'm not sure what to think.