INFORMATION SERVICE
 
 
Baptist World Alliance
Eron Henry, Associate Director of Communications
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Website: www.bwanet.org  
Email: communications@bwanet.org
Phone: +1 703 790 8980
Fax: +1 703 893 5160

September 20, 2010
 
For Immediate Release
Baptist world president condemns planned Quran burning

Washington (BWA) -- Baptist World Alliance President John Upton has condemned the planned burning of the Quran by a church in Gainesville, Florida, in the United States, on September 11.

The following is the full text by Upton.

"The Baptist World Alliance stands with our fellow Baptists around the world in denouncing and in expressing our profound distress over the threat of Rev. Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, to burn the Quran. This is a desecration of the sacred text for all Muslims and disrespects the right of all persons to worship according to their own convictions. 

"This act is not in the character or spirit of Jesus Christ and misrepresents the true nature of the Christian faith.  It is our prayer that Rev. Jones and his congregation will repent of this threat and ask the forgiveness of the Islamic community and discontinue his caustic rhetoric."

                 
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