The mouse that roared

Pastor Terry Jones' 50-member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL is now infamous. — Pastor Terry Jones’ 50-member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL is now infamous.

I wonder how many small-time holy men are wishing they were him right now. Yesterday, Pastor Terry Jones was obscurity itself. His Gainesville, FL congregation just a slip of a thing. As few as 30, by some counts, as many as 50 by others. Today his name is on the lips of every news anchor and head of state from Rome to Washington to Abu Dhabi.

And all he did was threaten to burn a few copies of the Koran.

Brilliant.

We’re swarming with creatures like Jones from sea to shining sea, the main difference between him and the others being that Jones caught lightning in a bottle.

It won’t stay there, of course, but for the next few days, it’s his to do with as he will.

Tomorrow, he’ll either fly to NYC to meet with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf in an attempt to pursuade Rauf not to build a mosque at Ground Zero, or he’ll go ahead with the “International Burn a Koran Day” event he’s tentatively cancelled.

Either way, his place in history is assured. And his facial hair is to die for.

(NOTE: At the time of this writing, the International Burn a Koran Day Facebook page has 17,254 friends.)