Florida pastor who threatened to burn Quran donates car to Jersey City non-profit

Published: Saturday, October 23, 2010, 2:13 PM
Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal

Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center speaks to the media as Imam Muhammad Musri of the Islamic Society of Central Florida looks on in this AP file

When a South Brunswick car dealership promised a new car to controversial Florida Pastor Terry Jones, an unlikely chain of events led to the keys being handed yesterday morning to a Jersey City women's advocacy group, according to a story in today's Jersey Journal.

Jones - who had threatened to burn a Quran on Sept. 11 - went to South Brunswick to receive the keys to the 2011 Hyundai Accent at the Brad Benson car dealership and then turned them over to Paul Johnson of WomenRising, which runs the domestic violence shelter in Hudson County and offers programs to empower women and families.

Benson, a former New York Giant who was on two Super Bowl winning teams, had aired a radio advertisement poking fun at Jones and promising him a new car if Jones promised not to follow through on his plan.

When Jones, pastor of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, backed off the plan, the car offer became a reality.

Jones told The Jersey Journal yesterday that he wasn't the person who chose WomenRising as the recipient of the car, but was happy with the choice. When he heard about the car, he decided to donate it and asked the World Evangelical Outreach to suggest a recipient.

The organization recommended Wafa House, a center in Clifton dedicated to educating and assisting victims of domestic violence and other social issues, but that didn't work out.

WomenRising was then suggested.

Read the entire story in today's Jersey Journal.
http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index ... 28781512384190.xml&coll=3