Cohen, Alexander on Quran Protest

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A Florida pastor's controversial plan to publically burn copies of the Islamic holy book the Quran has ended. Terry Jones announced Thursday afternoon he will cancel his protest, which had been planned for Saturday on the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 attack.

Jones' plans had sparked international criticism from religious and political leaders, including representatives from Tennessee's congressional delegation. FOX13's Les Smith spoke with Lamar Alexander and Steve Cohen just hours before Jones cancelled his plans.

Was it a tasteless and irresponsible threat? Or was it a heartfelt protest based on one man's genuine religious convictions? Either way it appeared no one could stop Florida pastor, Terry Jones, from a planned public burning of copies of the Quran on the anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy on Saturday. No one could stop him, except himself.

"Sometimes you have a right to do something. But, should you do it?" asked U.S. Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN).

"We give people in our country the opportunity to say things we hate and to do things we hate," said U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN). "But, I'm very sorry if the pastor does that and I hope he doesn't."

As the debate heightened over the true intentions of the leader of the obscure Dove World Outreach Center, Jones made the surprise announcement Thursday afternoon most religious and political leaders worldwide had urged him to make.

The Gainesville pastor announced he had decided to cancel his protest, alleging he had reached an agreement with the leader of a planned Islamic Center near Ground Zero in New York to move to another location. Jones' decision came as most religious and political leaders were distancing themselves from any iota of support for what Jones had planned to carry out.

Concern had risen over the international reaction and possible military retribution. Before Jones' decision was made public, earlier on Thursday we spoke with Senator Alexander and Congressman Cohen, who both expressed their opposition to Jones' now aborted protest.

"God wouldn't want us to be burning books whether they are of our religion or another person's religion that are holy books to somebody. In this case a great number of people," said Cohen.

"I never read anything in the Bible that I read that suggests that it's okay to burn the book of another faith," said Alexander. "I think, what would I think if a group of another faith burned a stack of Bibles?"