Terry Jones' "church" of 50 people is a storage facility for his for-profit furniture business.

[Hannah Bell]

By all accounts - the church's Web site, interviews with current and former members and Terry Jones' own description - the church in Gainesville, as was the one in Germany, is structured with a for-profit business operating out of tax-exempt church property, using the unpaid labor of church members to maintain a steady stream of merchandise for sale online...The value of the land and buildings located at the Dove World Outreach Center, 5805 N.W. 37th St., is assessed at $1.6 million and is wholly exempt from taxes...

Outside contact, even with family for weddings and funerals, is prohibited for students who attend the Dove World Outreach Academy in Gainesville. The academy members live on property owned by TS and Company, work in the selling, packing and shipping of furniture and are unpaid.

However, Jones declined through a spokeswoman to say what percentage of the profits go to the church or how much the company makes, stating that information isn't public record."TS and Company is a tax-paying business, and the company determines what it does with its money, just like any other business does," said Stephanie Sapp, speaking on behalf of Terry Jones...

Visits to the church's 20-acre property have confirmed that the sanctuary is partially filled with furniture. The sanctuary also is used twice a week for religious services.

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090719/ARTICLES/907191005?p=3&tc=pg

Gainesville Sun, 2009


Here's their eBay page:

http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=tsandcompany



I repeat, why is the uncredentialed pastor of a dinky, phony "church" getting so much press coverage?

The press is good at not covering things they don't want to (like anti-war protests) -- so why are they giving saturation coverage to Terry Jones?

[Curmudgeoness]

1. Sounds like he should not be calling so much attention to himself.

He has a good thing going and probably would never be looked at by the IRS. But get the spotlight on you, and you open a huge can of worms.

Then again, no one has accused him of being a genius.

[Hannah Bell]

4. That's another interesting thing. He's been calling attention to himself for years,

so why isn't he getting that kind of scrutiny? The local story from the Sun is the only one I can find that looks at this kind of thing in the States.

The national press paints him as a whacko who was kicked out of his church in Germany for fraud, etc., but don't point out he's doing similar things in the US. Nor do they point out the significance of his ties to Maranantha. Most accounts don't even mention that background.

Why is this guy getting so much coverage?

[Curmudgeoness]

11. Good point. Does our IRS do anything but bug us little people? nt

[Hannah Bell]

14. one wonders. it doesn't seem to go after the big players too often.

though pretty obviously, they have more to cheat with.

[louis-t]

2. Because he's a mass murderer.

His actions just caused the deaths of numerous people. After he was warned and was asked not to do it.

[Morning Dew]

5. He was warned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj59P_S_HZ4&feature=related

[Hannah Bell]

6. It's interesting that our guy Karzhai was the one who publicized this guy's actions

in Afghanistan.

Why would he make a big issue out of what the pastor of some phony 50-member church does?

You mistake the time sequence, btw. The publicity came before the murders.

[Morning Dew]

7. +1 - Karzai made a big stink.

There has been a wealth of Koran burning ( remember burn a Koran day?) without violence and murder.

here are a few of those videos from youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHQ_OfOTEHc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WaB2GH88js&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywu4OhJryVw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RbAN4zERrc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhbF-24vVDA&feature=related

[Imajika]

9. He's a mass murderer for burning a silly book?

Please.

The way so many run around condemning this guy is ridiculous. Yes, he's a idiot. But a bunch of morons that get exercised over their holy book being burned by some obscure nimrod half a world away in Florida are the real murderers.

Why must we cater to these fundamentalist nuts so much? Anyone can burn a Bible or any other religions Holy Book(s) and be appropriately looked down on for being an obnoxious prick, but no other religions followers kill people over it. Only in Islam can you create mass riots and killing sprees by burning a stupid book.

Much of the Islamic world is absolutely backward and we should not be appeasing them (actually, giving them cover) by laying the blame for these murders on this doofus pastor.

If I walk out in my front yard right now and post a video myself burning the Book of Mormon, The King James Bible, The Old Testament, etc, etc there will not be rioters laying siege to UN offices and slaughtering/beheading people. This IS an Islam problem and we should stop excusing it.

[louis-t]

15. Don't excuse it away under the guise of "free speech".

This is a "yelling fire in a theater" moment if there ever was one. He absolutely knew what the consequences were.

[Imajika]

17. Oh? Then how about flag burning?

If a bunch of nationalistic tea baggers threaten violence over burning an American flag, do we suddenly declare flag burning to be like "yelling fire in a theater".

This is NOTHING like "yelling fire in a theater".

By your logic, so long as a fundie mob is willing to riot, there should be no lampooning, desecration, etc, of Christian bibles, crosses, or pretty any religions "sacred" books and objects.

No, the answer is to stop treating these fundamentalist Muslims with kid gloves. These Islamists riot and murder over CARTOOONS. Shall we ban cartoons because it might offend a bunch of crazies? There is no excuse for that and we shouldn't be encouraging them by catering to their backwardness.

[louis-t]

21. Uh, let's see, when has that ever happened?

There have been no fundie riots, no threat of fundie riots over flag burning. None. Christ and Christians are lampooned all the time in our media. No riots.

When you are warned in advance, and you know from past experience, that your actions will cause a certain result, aren't you then responsible when your actions cause that result? Even if the reaction is wrong and misguided and cruel? Why does someone yell 'fire' in a theater? For amusement, for attention? When people then stampede out of the theater, stepping on each other to get out, do we then blame the stampeders when someone gets hurt? It is EXACTLY like yelling 'fire'. When WBC holds up signs to try and get violent reactions at funerals, is that ok? Are we "catering to the backwardness" of the funeral attendees if we tell WBC to stop? If we refuse to desecrate sacred, Native American lands or rituals, are we "catering to their backwardness"?

You're making a false argument by asking "should we ban all cartoons because they might offend someone". No one has said "ban all burning" or "ban all protests" or "ban all theaters" for that matter.

Do you go around forcing people to dance if it's against their religion? Should you put pork in people's food if they're Jewish? Is it ok to walk up to someone wearing a yamulka and ridicule them for their beliefs?

This is a matter of respect for people who are different from us and who have not been treated all that great by us, encouraged by their leaders for political gain. So, "stop treating them with kid gloves"? What would you suggest? There are a billion and a half of them, 300 million of us. Maybe we should stop poking the hornets nest.

[Obamanaut]

10. He's a book burner. The folks who lopped off heads are the murderers. nt

[Donald Ian Rankin]

16. No more than anyone who refuses to pay a ransom is a murderer. N.T.

[cleanhippie]

19. Uh, no. He is an idiot, be has killed no one.

By your rationale, If I tell you that your posts here on DU anger me to the point that I will harm someone else because of your posts, and you continue to post, then any harm that befalls another is YOUR fault. Right?

So, now that you know your posts anger me so, any harm I do is YOUR fault.

[patrick t. cakes]

3. That spokesperson...

is such a sap.

literally.

[Obamanaut]

8. One does not have to be a lawyer to be a Supreme Court Justice. Nor

does one have to have a degree from a divinity school to be a minister/preacher.

And the uncredentialed pastor is getting press coverage for the same reason many people are chatting about him on the internet - it's different news, appealing to the masses.

[Hannah Bell]

12. of course, that must be it. everything else is just coincidental.

it's all about feeding the masses' demand for "different news".

[Obamanaut]

13. "Shiny keys." nt

[cleanhippie]

20. We, as a society, feed off of things like this.

[cleanhippie]

18. What makes Jones' church any more "phony" than another?

From my perspective, they are ALL phoney, and should all be taxed as regular businesses.

[Orsino]

22. Its stupid, publicity-whoring pastor and hate-lemming congregation.

Just possibly.

[cleanhippie]

23. While I do not disagree with you at all...

Thats pretty much my view on nearly all religions.