Anti-Muslim Pastor Terry Jones Takes A New Stand
Terry Jones has given up cooking Qurans for the time being in favor of taking a new stand in Bradenton, Florida. Jones and his two brothers opened “Fry Guys Gourmet Fries,” a French fry stand at the food court of the DeSoto Square mall.
Jones is the pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center, an anti-Muslim hate group that received international attention for planning to burn 2,998 Qurans—one for each victim from the September 11th terrorist attacks—in 2013. He was arrested on his way to the event for felony unlawful conveyance of fuel and also charged with unlawful open-carry of a firearm.
Previous plans to burn a Quran in 2010, eventually aborted, and 2011 resulted in a $2.2 million bounty being placed on Jones’s head by an Al-Qaeda affiliate.
According to a recent interview in VICE, Jones sees his fry stand as an act of patriotic defiance.
“I hope that it’s somewhat of an asset for people that are tired of what is going on and want to speak out, and want to believe that someone will stand up, and take a chance, and speak out. People can support us by coming out to eat,” Jones said.
Jones, who also made headlines in 2011 for holding “Good Friday protest” in Dearborn, Michigan, at the Islamic Center of America where he claimed that the city was ruled by sharia law, seems to have toned down his rhetoric.
When asked by VICE if he wished all Muslims would convert to Christianity, he gave a surprising answer.
“If you’re asking me as an American, then I have no problem with Islam—they are protected under the First Amendment. I have no problem with them being in the country, building mosques, or evangelizing.”
