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U.S. Southern Baptist Minister Offers No Apology to Muslims
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| Pastor
Jerry Vines offered no apology Sunday for anti-Muslim remarks
he made last week
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WASHINGTON,
June 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Jerry Vines, a Southern
Baptist Minister and pastor of a Florida church, who made derogatory
statements about the Prophet Mohammed (SAW), made his first public
appearance after making the remarks stirring a national controversy,
did not apologize for the comments, but softened his tone.
Insisting
he had not spoken incorrectly, Vines said he cited Islamic and
academic sources, challenging, “If I have misread this information,
I would be glad for Muslim scholars to explain their own documents to
us all,” Vines told his congregation Sunday morning in
Jacksonville
,
Florida
.
Vines
accused the Prophet (SAW) of pedophilia and said that Christians and
Muslims don’t worship the same God.
Vines
said he would not apologize to or meet with representatives from the
Islamic community about his widely reported remarks about their
religion and its founder, despite calls for him to do so.
But
Vines did offer to convert Muslims to Christianity.
“I
love Muslim people. I have found many of them to be kind, gentle and
loving people… Many Muslims have come to our church to hear of the
love, joy, peace and saving grace available to all in Jesus Christ,”
he preached to his congregation.
“It
is our desire to have a face-to-face meaningful dialogue in an
environment of mutual respect,” Shakur Bolden, president of the
Islamic Center of Northeast Florida, told WJXT News Sunday afternoon,
in an effort to promote a dialogue with the pastor.
“I
have no plans to speak to this matter further,” Vines - a former
president of the Southern Baptist Convention - said.
Vines
did not answer questions from reporters.
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