I’m too tired to properly state just how pissed off I am about this.

A Florida pastor told CNN on Tuesday that while his congregation still plans to burn Qurans to protest the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the church is “weighing” its intentions.

Terry Jones, pastor of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, who was interviewed on CNN’s “American Morning,” said the congregation is taking seriously the warning from the U.S. military that the act could cause problems for American troops.

“We have firmly made up our mind, but at the same time, we are definitely praying about it,” Jones said.

…

Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said the burning of Islam’s holy books “could cause significant problems” for American troops overseas.

“It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort in Afghanistan,” he said in a statement issued Monday. … “Were the actual burning to take place, the safety of our soldiers and civilians would be put in jeopardy and accomplishment of the mission would be made more difficult.”

So by saying he’s still “weighing plans” when every reasonable and unreasonable person in a position to know has said “this is a horrible, life-threatening idea,” what Pastor Jackass of the truthlessly-named “Dove World Outreach Center” is really saying is that he couldn’t give less of a fuck about the lives of American troops or (American or Afghani) citizens, because he has a hateful, asinine statement to make, and by his God (not yours), he’s going to make it.

But, hey, I’m sure when soldiers are maimed or killed, when citizens are maimed or killed, as a result of this hateful, asinine statement, their parents, their partners and their children will all be thinking, “well, at least he prayed about it.  I’d be really upset about my horrific loss if I didn’t know he prayed about it.”

“We realize that this action would indeed offend people, offend the Muslims. I am offended when they burn the flag. I am offended when they burn the Bible. But we feel that the message that we are trying to send is much more important than people being offended.”

…

The message, he said, is directed toward the “radical element of Islam.”

“Our message is very clear,” he said. “It is not to the moderate Muslim. Our message is not a message of hate. Our message is a message of warning to the radical element of Islam, and I think what we see right now around the globe provides exactly what we’re talking about,” he said.

Christ almighty.  How can one man be so full of shit?

This “message of warning to the radical element” is going to seriously, seriously upset the remaining 99% of Muslims, the “moderate” Muslims you say you’re not directing your message at.  If someone were to burn a Bible and say, “oh, I’m not trying to offend the moderate Christians, just the Timothy McVeighs and the Scott Roeders, the ‘radical element of Christianity,’” I’d bet my life that Pastor Jackass here would be intensely offended.

When he leads his church in the burning of Qurans, as I’m sure he will, he is going to create a situation that will nearly certainly lead to multiple deaths, though of course nobody he knows will be at risk so he probably doesn’t care much.  As much as he says this is just a “message of warning” only meant for “radical Muslims,” he’s going to find himself with a lot of blood on his hands, Afghani blood and American blood, Muslim blood and Christian blood.  Blood he’ll never be able to wash off his hands no matter how he tries.  And what might really blow his tiny mind is how all of that blood is going to be the same shade of red; he won’t be able to tell the American Christian from the Afghani Muslim.

And remember what Jesus said, Pastor (it’s in the Gospel of Matthew, not one of Paul’s letters, so you may not have seen it before): “as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me,” you worthless fuck.