Washington, January 30: A US pastor banned from entering Britain is to send his son as his representative to deliver his words to the audience there following a Home Secretary decision that he ‘is not conducive to the public good’.
Terry Jones’s son, Luke, who is also a pastor at the Dove World Outreach Centre in Florida is to go to England on behalf of his father to deliver his speech in the second week of February on the expansion of Islam in Milton Keynes, Bucks.
Milton Keynes’s Councillor Janet Irons has described Luke Jones’s presence in Britain to talk at the anti-Islam demonstrations, as the second ”bad idea” by Terry Jones.
”I do not want him here, we have a large Muslim community, especially in my ward of Wolverton. It is just provocation, he’s just a problem and a nuisance,” Irons said.
”It would be a retrograde step if he came here, of course I support free speech, but this is just to stir things up,” she added.
A British extremist group had invited Terry Jones to Britain after he received a worldwide condemnation for launching a campaign to burn the holy Qur’an last year on September 11.
The group, England is Ours, announced they asked Terry Jones to come to Britain to “speak at a series of demonstrations against the expansion of Islam and the construction of Mosques here in the UK in the second week of February.”
Terry Jones earlier said he is ‘disappointed’ by the UK government’s decision.
“We are currently taking action and hope the Government will reconsider its decision and lift the ban,” he said.
“If the ban is not lifted, we will send my son, Luke, who will do the rallies and the speeches. His message would not be much different,” he added.
Secretary of England is Ours Barry Taylor said ”Luke Jones has exactly the same views and has written exactly the same sorts of things [as his father].”
———Agencies