The mouse that roared but to no avail

Gather around me my children and I will tell you a fairy tale in which there is a moral to it. The protagonist (main character of this story )is Pastor Terry Jones who is referred to as the mouse in this story.

Once upon a time many years ago, there lived a small mouse which had high ambitions to be world renown. Alas, it was neither a singer, musician, movie or television star or even a sports personality. It decided that since it didn’t possess any of those attributes, it would be a preacher and tell the world about God. But as time moved on, very few people took the little mouse very seriously and its dreams of having a cathedral in which it could preach the good word to thousands, ended up as a small church in the community of Gainsville, Florida which the little mouse called,‘Dove-World Outreach Center. .

The tiny church is a small (50 member) non-denominational charismatic Christian church in Gainesville, Florida led by the mouse and his wife, Sylvia. Its active members (30) comprise of members of its family, relatives and what few friends it and its wife still have. The mouse assumed full time pastoral duties at Dove World in 2008 after leaving Germany where it founded its original church. Wayne Sapp serves as assistant pastor, and the mouse’s' son serves as youth minister. Associate pastors are ordained within the church by other pastors, with no classes or specific qualifications required. The church was strongly criticized by local religious and political figures in Florida for its stances against homosexuality and Islam. Gainesville Mayor Lowe referred to Dove World as a "tiny fringe group and an embarrassment to our community".

The church, had originally gained notice during the late 2000s for its public displays and criticism of Islam and gays. The mouse and its little mice supported the Westboro Baptist Church, a horrible religious group known for disrupting the funerals of U.S. soldiers and which attended Sheppard’s funeral and in the presence of Sheppard’s grieving family, they condemned Sheppard to Hell because he was gay. .

What infuriated the world when it became known, was the fact that this grossly outrageous mouse had the temerity to tell everyone that would listen to its ravings, that God had appointed it as His messenger and that everything it says as a preacher, is actually the word of God. That is stretching ambition to its nth degree. That’s even better than having a cathedral to preach in if the mouse is to be believed.

In 2009, Dove World posted a lawn sign which stated in large red letters "Islam is of the Devil", and which later became the title of a book published by the mouse in 2010.

The signs drew protests and picketing by local activists and the Council on American-Islamic Relations which then responded to another sign which read, "Koran 9:5 Kill the disbelievers wherever you find them." saying the quote was out of context, and aimed at antagonizing Muslims. The mouse should have read what is said in the Old Testament with respect to killing people en-mass before choosing text from the Quor-an.

In August 2009, several children of church members went to their public schools wearing t-shirts reading Islam is of the Devil on the back and were sent home for violating the school district's dress code. Legal experts however said that the policy was likely legal and did not violate the First Amendment. The mouse said it had had the t-shirts printed by an internet company because local companies did not have the "guts to print them.” I am inclined to think that the word, “guts’ should be replaced with the word, ‘gall’.

The mouse finally found a way in which its views on Islam could be spread all over the world. The mouse’s church, ‘Dove-World Outreach Center’ (for want of more appropriate name) espoused its anti-Islamic view on its lawn and in the mouse’s YouTube videos for about one year before its July 2010 announcement and declared that on the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, it would hold an "International Burn a Koran Day", during which church members would burn hundreds of copies of the Islamic Qur'an.

At last, the little mouse’s squeaking could be heard everywhere. Now it would be a somebody. Everyone is a somebody but some are outstanding somebodys where this mouse was not a somebody----it was only a mouse.

The Gainesville fire department meanwhile refused to grant the church a burning permit, stating that the open burning of the books would not be allowed in the city due to the risk of it being a fire hazard. Actually there would be little risk of the fire getting out of control especially since if the books were burned on the church property, the location of the fire would be some considerable distance from any buildings or homes. I am convinced that the fire department had another motive in mind when it made its decision.

The media from around the world scrambled over each other to place their equipment on the large lawn outside of the mouse’s small church. They wanted to hear what the messenger of God, the little mouse had to say. What was on their minds as was on everyone else’s minds was; “Will it and its ilk really burn the books? Excessive media coverage and hysteria made it possible for one ill-educated, boorish, fame-whorish mouse to cause international tension. It was able to grab the attention of not just the media—which is not a difficult task, but most horribly and humiliatingly, he actually forced the Secretary of Defense to plead with this little mouse.

The little mouse attracted thousands of fans of its ilk and critics on Facebook and said it also regularly received death threats after the event was announced. It must have been proud when it realized that people world-wide were sitting up and taking notice of the little mouse that unshamelessly claims that it is God’s messenger.
Of course, the threats to kill the little mouse caused it to worry. After all, it is very rare that a pastor of a church is threatened with death. The mouse would have preferred to be thought of by its few followers as the messenger of God than thought of as a martyr killed by a Moslem who, like a great many people around the world, believed that the world would be better off without the presence of this little out-of-control mouse. The trouble facing the mouse was, how does the little mouse extricate itself from this dilemma of public humiliation it was facing?

There could only be one way. The mouse would have to cancel the event of burning the holy books. But to do that, the mouse would be thought of as the mouse that roared and nothing came of it. The little mouse would be the laughing stock to everyone around the world. That would be something the little mouse feared other than being put down like a wild dog.

Then an idea appeared in the mouse’s little brain. If someone high in the government would call him and ask it to leave the holy books intact, it would be pleased to honour that request. I suppose one could say that what it was doing was a form of extortion. But Americans were desperate. If the little mouse and it few mice that followed it really burned the hundred or so Qur’ans, there would be an terrible reprisal by Moslems in countries that are not really happy with Americans. Further, the American soldiers would be put at risk. Hundreds of soldiers and innocent people, perhaps even thousands would be killed or seriously wounded and all because a little mouse wanted to burn some holy books that would infuriate Moslems around the world. It was also aware that the U.S. president, the State Department, NATO, religious leaders like the pope and secular leaders around the world also hoped that the mouse would change its mind. To the mouse, that is control and having that kind of control would turn it into a somebody.

The American Secretary of Defence, Bill Gates, took on the job of attempting to dissuade the little mouse from commencing with its evil deed. To Gates’ credit, he talked the little mouse into backing away from its venture with the books. Now what does a little mouse do when the dilemma it was faced with isn’t really over. After all, why should the messenger of God back away from it venture so easily? Perhaps it could use its threat to burn the books in another way that might please a great many Americans who are not Moslems which would then make the mouse popular and respected as the messenger of God.

It was aware that there was a rather contentious matter that Americans were faced with. It was the location of a mosque that is a mere two blocks from the site of the 9/11 World Trade attack. If the mouse could talk the imam in Manhattan who was trying to keep the mosque where it is, to have his mosque somewhere else, the little mouse would save face and many non-Moslem Americans would be grateful to it. If the mouse was successful, then its messages from God would reach the ears and eyes of far more people than the mere 50 members of its tiny church.

It called upon another imam in Florida to help it with its new task. The imam later denied publicly that he did not say to the mouse that the imam in Manhattan would meet with the little mouse. In fact, he actually hadn’t spoken to the imam in Manhattan. He had only spoken to the imam’s wife. The imam in Manhattan publicly declared that he had not agreed to meet with the mouse from Florida and in any case, he was steadfast in his decision that as far as he was concerned, the mosque in Manhattan would remain where it is and not be moved elsewhere at the mouse’s insistence or anyone else’s insistence.

The mouse nevertheless flew to New York on Friday September 10th and tried to meet with the imam in charge of the proposed construction of the mosque. That meeting did not take place. Critics have said the proposal to locate a mosque near the World Trade Center site is disrespectful to those who died on September 11, 2001. Supporters say it would help bridge differences between the West and the Islamic world. It is a problem facing both sides of this complicated issue and well beyond the abilities of a little foolish mouse to solve.

In any case, it was all academic. The little mouse’s opportunity to burn the books on Saturday, September 11th 2010 was gone and it knew it. It later said that its church will ‘never’ stage such an event. The little mouse had initially roared and roared but its effect only made people laugh at the little mouse whose roar had ended up being merely a pitiful squeak.

In the wake of international condemnation and personal threats, the little squeaking mouse said he would not "back down because of fear." After canceling, then suspending the event of burning the books in the day immediately preceding September 11, 2010, it ultimately said its little church would not be carrying out the plan to burn the Korans and that it had attained the goal of exposing the fact that an element of Islam is "very dangerous and very radical." But little mouse, that isn’t necessarily a secret just as elements of the Old Testament are very dangerous and radical isn’t a secret either.

The little mouse could have said that in his teachings to his 30 mice that regularly attend its small church, but it wanted a bigger audience. The mouse got it but it backfired. The little mouse was not a religious leader that could control the thinking of the world. It was only a little mouse that constantly squeaked gibberish and made a fool of itself---- again and again. The little mouse had put all his eggs in one basket and like Humpty Dumpty, when the eggs fell, none of its eggs could be put back together again.

Every story has a moral in it somewhere. The little mouse had set a trap in which it hoped it would catch the attention of everyone in the world. But unfortunately for the foolish creature, the trap was its own mouth and it had put its own feet in its mouth and found itself in the unaimable position of not being able to pull its feet out of its mouth. The squeaking one hears now from the foolish creature sounds more like someone gagging. Perhaps with luck, the gagging will become permanent but alas, I don’t think this is the last we will hear from the little foolish mouse. After all, is it not a messenger from God. It says it is.

There you have it my children. A nice fairy tale and like all fairy tales, there are some tibits from actual events that can be found in it. However, I think I should change one aspect of this fairy tale. Would it not be more accurate and preferable if I referred to the mouse as a rat?