Tensions Still on Boil in Mosque Fight

As Florida Pastor Fades From Spotlight, the Passions He Inflamed Keep Burning on Weekend Marking 9/11 Anniversary

The Florida pastor who inflamed the debate over construction of an Islamic center near Ground Zero in Manhattan faded from public view, but anger simmered during a weekend marked by a memorial for 9/11 victims and dueling protests near the site of the proposed project.

Protesters from both sides of the divide filled the area around the Islamic center’s site on Saturday amid services commemorating the ninth anniversary of the 2001 attacks. Pastor Terry Jones’s campaign and the protests have served to draw a spotlight to the growing debate about religious tolerance in the U.S.

President Barack Obama on Saturday alluded to the tensions. Speaking at the Pentagon, he said Americans “are not—and never will be—at war with Islam. It was not a religion that attacked us that September day. It was al Qaeda, a sorry band of men which perverts religion.”

In an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf defended his plans to put the Islamic center near the spot of the 2001 attacks: “My major concern with moving it is that the headline in the Muslim world will be, ‘Islam is under attack in America.’ This will strengthen the radicals in the Muslim world, help their recruitment. This will put our people, our soldiers, our troops, our embassies, our citizens, under attack in the Muslim world.”

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani chastised the pastor for threatening to burn the Quran and the imam for locating his Islamic center near Ground Zero. “In either case, common sense and a real dedication to healing that these men of God would theoretically have would tell you not to do it because you’re hurting too many people,” he said.

After whipping up a frenzy of publicity over plans to burn copies of the Quran, Mr. Jones was greeted at New York’s La Guardia airport Friday night by a throng of news trucks and cameras. But by Sunday he had failed in his mission to meet the imam in a bid to move the project away from its site near Ground Zero.

Along a stretch of Broadway near City Hall, about 2,000 people, according to the New York Police Department, rallied in support of the mosque on Saturday, many of them representing the International Action Center, an activist group. They carried signs saying “No to Racism and Bigotry—from NYC to Palestine” and “Racism and Bigotry Promote War.”

The protests were mostly peaceful, but tempers flared at times. Police officers intervened between a small group of supporters of the Islamic project and a Vietnam veteran who called it a “lousy idea.” One of the supporters, who carried a sign saying “The Attack on Islam is Racism,” read from the Quran while the Vietnam veteran, 61-year-old Ed Dougherty, recited the U.S. Constitution.

The proceedings climaxed mid-afternoon when an overwhelmingly anti-mosque crowd jammed two blocks along West Broadway for a rally hosted by the organization Stop Islamization of America.

The crowd repeatedly broke into chants of “U-S-A!” and “No more mosque!” which at times were led by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-Islamic Freedom Party. About 1,500 people attended the anti-mosque rally, police said.

The controversy over the Islamic center took an unusual turn Thursday when Mr. Jones abandoned plans to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11 after a direct appeal from U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Mr. Jones said he dropped his plans after reaching an agreement to move the Islamic center away from its planned location. However, representatives of the center denied there was any such agreement.

Mr. Jones’s campaign has drawn condemnation from around the world. In Afghanistan, two protesters died and four were injured as Afghans protested for a third day Sunday against Mr. Jones’s Quran-burning plans, even though he has called the event off, the Associated Press reported.

Appearing on the “Today Show” on Saturday, Mr. Jones said he could “absolutely guarantee” that he wouldn’t carry out his original plans to burn copies of the Quran, even if the Islamic center gets built on its proposed site.

“We hoped that would open up a door to be able to talk to the imam about the Ground Zero mosque,” he said.

People familiar with the matter said the imam had decided not to meet with Mr. Jones, a decision that was evident to the pastor’s camp shortly after their arrival in New York Friday. Mr. Jones told the New York Police Department he would be leaving the city on Sunday, according to a police spokesman.

In an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the furor around Mr. Jones was in part “a creation of the media.” “But it goes across the Internet and across the globe as an accelerant, and they don’t appreciate that we are a country with freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of religion. This is just one small minister who we all disagree with on a values basis,” she said.

Mr. Jones insisted in his “Today Show” interview that his plans weren’t a ploy for publicity for his church but rather a mission from God that he compared to Abraham’s.

“Of course, Abraham was also wiser than us,” he said. “He told no one.”

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