Terry Jones has received his 15 minutes of fame...

Pastor Terry Jones vows he will never burn a Koran, still hopes to meet with Ground Zero mosque imam

Florida pastor Terry Jones vowed never to burn a Koran hours after he arrived in New York on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"Not today, not ever," Jones said on NBC's "Today" show Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Jones, who created a firestorm across the world this week with plans to burn Islam's sacred book, was widely criticized for coming to New York City on the mournful anniversary.

"Who's going to be the next person looking for their next 15 minutes of fame? I'm appalled by it," Gov. Paterson said Saturday. "More and more, particularly this year, I feel that the memory of those who were lost is being disrespected."

Jones cancelled the planned Koran bonfire Friday, hoping he would secure a meeting with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, leader of the community center and mosque being built several blocks from Ground Zero. Jones wants Rauf to agree to move the center, called Park 51.

"There is no meeting," Jones said Saturday. "We just have that hope that one would take place."

On Friday, Rauf said he has never spoken with Jones and had no plans to meet with him as of yet.

"I am prepared to consider meeting with anyone who is seriously committed to pursuing peace," Rauf said.

Jones' comments Saturday seemingly end a tension-filled week over his plan to burn Korans at his Gainesville church, the Dove World Outreach Center.

Outcry against Jones spanned across the globe, with violent protests in Afghanistan and Indonesia, as well as pleas from U.S. military commanders, President Obama and even Jones' own daughter.

Jones said the publicity he received bolstered his "mission" to bring attention to Islam's "radical" elements.

"We feel we have accomplished our goal," Jones said. "We feel that God has told us to stop."

This is what I found interesting:

Outcry against Jones spanned across the globe, with violent protests in Afghanistan and Indonesia, as well as pleas from U.S. military commanders, President Obama and even Jones' own daughter.

Jones said the publicity he received bolstered his "mission" to bring attention to Islam's "radical" elements.

The violence wasn't coming from Islam's "radical" elements, but rather from the countries of Afghanistan and Indonesia where, if you're a Christian, you don't live very well to begin with. There is no religious tolerance in those countries for Christians.

It was also interesting when Obama spoke about Jones and his plan. He too never mentioned that the Islamic world was over-reacting to one person's actions here in the States, he never mentioned that thousands of rioters destroying property and perhaps killing Christians, or our soldiers, in those countries kinda sorta proved that Islam most definitely isn't a religion of peace (otherwise their first thought wouldn't be to go out and kill innocent people in their countries for what one person was doing in the USA) - and what those folks want is the death, or at least the subjugation of America to Islamic will.