US pastor Terry Jones ‘will not attend EDL demo’

Home Secretary Theresa May had faced calls to bar the controversial pastor from entering the country after it emerged he had been invited to attend an English Defence League (EDL) rally in Luton in February.

Earlier this year Terry Jones sparked outrage when he announced plans by his Florida-based church to burn copies of the Koran to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America.

Yesterday the preacher said he would fight moves to ban him from coming to Britain, and insisted he would be bringing a “positive message”.

But in a statement on its Facebook page, the EDL said it had not invited Mr Jones to speak at the event, but he had approached them and they agreed in principle. It said the EDL felt it inappropriate to offer him an invitation to the demonstration, and he would not be attending.

“We believe firmly in upholding the principles of free speech and free expression, and believe that he should have been free to do so, and protected by law enforcement authorities from those who would have tried to harm or kill him had he done so,” the statement said.

“At the same time, we strongly disapprove of burning the Koran, precisely because we believe in those principles of free speech and free expression.

“We do not believe the Koran should be burned, but rather read, so that people come to understand its inherent violence, supremacism, and hatred and contempt for non-Muslims.

“It is essential that people know what the Koran teaches, so they can see how far its teachings are from the free traditions of England that we have pledged our lives to uphold and defend.”

Jones’s ‘desire’ to visit Britain

Terry Jones told Channel 4 News on Sunday his assistant has contacted EDL asking permission to visit.

The pastor told Samira Ahmed he had family in Britain and had a “desire to see England prosper”.

“My ancestry comes from England and Wales – Jones – my daughter is married to an Englishman, so there are also my grandchildren. So of course I have somewhat of a desire to see England prosper and stay a form of democracy”.

When quizzed about how much he knew about Islam in Britain, the pastor said his only source of knowledge was the internet – but that his experience in Europe had shown him the “advancements” of Islam:

“I only know what I have seen on the internet (about Islam in Britain). I am not totally ignorant of Islam in Europe, I lived in Europe for 30 years and saw the advancements of Islam.

“I have seen many demonstrations there where Muslims have called for the death of the UK, Israel and America.”

He argued that he had no problem with ordinary Muslims only extremists, but he was still required to consider Islam “evil” because of his standing as a pastor for a Christian church.

“We have always tried to make it clear, we here in America and I assume also in England, we are not against the modern Muslim.

“We have freedom of religion, freedom of speech, they are more than welcome in America as I assume they are in England.”

“We are just definitely against that radical element that we feel is much larger and much more dangerous than we realise.”

On whether or not Islam was evil, Jones said:

“I’m a pastor, so we would definitely consider Islam evil.

“As a pastor we believe Jesus Christ is the only way, and that makes every other religion of course wrong.”

The pastor felt he had the authority to come to talk about British Islam because they could look around the world and “see what is going on.”

EDL statement

EDL added that the event would go ahead as planned while wishing the pastor luck with his future pursuits.

“In light of our strong commitment to these groups and some of the Pastor’s statements and associations, we feel it inappropriate to offer Pastor Terry Jones an invitation to attend an EDL demonstration,” the statement said.

“The EDL can confirm that Pastor Jones will not be attending the English Defence League demonstration against sharia in Luton on 5 February.

“We wish him success in his efforts to oppose the rise of sharia in the United States and thank him for his interest in the EDL.”