As the Quran-burning pastor from Florida prepares to protest on Good Friday outside the biggest mosque in Dearborn, local religious leaders say they’re gearing up to counter his message with a show of unity.

Religious leaders from various backgrounds — Protestant, Jewish, Catholic, Muslim and others — plan to rally Thursday at the Islamic Center of America, where Pastor Terry Jones says he’ll protest Friday against radical Islam. The clergy and others plan to link hands in a circle around the mosque to symbolically shield it from Jones, whom they describe as divisive.

“This is an opportunity to show a different vision than the one he’s bringing,” said the Rev. Daniel Buttry, a Baptist pastor from Hamtramck with the Interfaith Leadership Council.

The council created an online petition that garnered more than 1,500 signatures. It reads, in part: “We … stand together in condemning the actions of those who spew hate and fear, and who misuse and desecrate holy books of faith.”

But Pastor Wayne Sapp, who burned a Quran last month under Jones’ supervision, said Tuesday that he and Jones are coming to Dearborn to peacefully protest against jihad and Shari’a, which they say threaten non-Muslims with violence.

Pastor: Muslims must obey U.S. law

A controversial pastor from Florida who set off violent protests in parts of the Islamic world after he led a Quran-burning last month says he’s coming to Dearborn this Good Friday to demand that Muslims submit to U.S. laws.

“They are more than welcome to worship freely, to build mosques,” Terry Jones told the Free Press. “The only thing we ask of Muslims is that they honor, obey and submit to the Constitution of the United States.”

But the head of the mosque bristles when he hears about Jones’ plan to demonstrate outside his Islamic center, which sits off Ford Road.

“Who is he to question our loyalty?” said Imam Hassan Qazwini, a Shi’a cleric known for his moderate views. “Muslims are as American as he is. He has no right to question the loyalty of American Muslims in this country. We are peaceful, patriotic citizens who love this country and care about it as much as any citizen.”

Those clashing views will play out this week. The pastor’s planned visit has prompted an intense debate about Islam, religion and Dearborn.

Qazwini heads a mosque that is one of the older Islamic centers in the region. It has Arab-American members who go back several generations in the U.S. Born in Iraq, Qazwini has met and spoken with President George W. Bush, whom he embraced in Dearborn during the Iraq war, and President Barack Obama. His mosque has done extensive interfaith and community outreach, a sign of the center’s inclusive and temperate nature, supporters say.

During the last week, Qazwini has drawn a wide range of supporters: government officials, religious leaders and law enforcement. On Thursday and Friday, they plan to hold public interfaith rallies in support of the center and against Jones.

“Stand together in the spirit of cooperation and harmony, the essential basis of this great country,” said Robert Bruttell, chairman of the Interfaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit. “We are calling on people to reject fear and intolerance.”

The fact that Jones chose Good Friday to protest is especially offensive, said the Rev. Jeffery Day, the ecumenical/interfaith adviser for the Archdiocese of Detroit.

“As Catholics, we’re mortified that Terry Jones would want to come to Dearborn, where we really are a community that gets along well with our Muslim brothers and sisters,” he said.

The interfaith efforts paid off during the weekend after a man who initially had organized the protest outside the Islamic Center of America decided to cancel his plans. He changed his mind after meeting with religious leaders and city officials in Dearborn.

Frank Fiorello, 35, the head of an anti-Shari’a group based in Marlette, called Order of the Dragon, organized the protest earlier this year. But last week, Fiorello met with Dearborn Mayor John O’Reilly Jr. and with pastors in the Dearborn Area Ministries Association (DAMA) at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center. They told him that Dearborn was not under Shari’a law, a myth circulated on the Internet, O’Reilly said.

Pastor Wayne Sapp is a leader in the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., which is headed by Jones. Last month, Jones held a mock trial of the Quran, in which a “jury” convicted the holy book. Sapp then burned it, sparking violent protests in Afghanistan, where outraged Muslim protesters killed a number of United Nations staff members, according to multiple news reports.

To Sapp and Jones, that proves there is a problem within Islam.

“You don’t see that in Christianity, you don’t see that in Buddhism, you don’t see that in Hinduism,” Sapp argued. He worries about a situation where some Muslims in the U.S. might become violent as has happened in other countries, he said.

And so he’s visiting Dearborn “to bring some of these points up,” because the city has a sizable Islamic population, Sapp said.

Of particular concern to Sapp and Jones is Shari’a, or Islamic law, which they fear might establish a foothold in the U.S. They point to the violent reactions to the Quran-burning as an example of what they say is Islam’s intolerance. Jones currently has a $1.2-million bounty on his head from a Pakistan-based terrorist organization.

“If burning the Quran causes violence to break out, it’s not because we burn the Quran, it’s because there’s a violent nature somewhere within Islam,” Jones said. “Because if you burn the Bible … no church calls for your death.”

But local religious leaders condemn Jones’ Quran-burning and are urging him not to show up at the Dearborn mosque.

“The desecrating of holy scripture of any faith is reprehensible,” said Richard Nodel, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit. “When it’s done by a member of the clergy, it’s sinful. We urge Rev. Jones to cancel this despicable act. His hatred and actions are not welcome in our community.”

Qazwini, the head of the Islamic center in Dearborn, said Jones “has the right to express his opinion,” but added that religious leaders should be more sensitive about such issues.

“If he calls himself a reverend, a pastor, a religious leader, then we should hold him to a higher standard.”

Source : Detroit Free Press