Pastor Terry Jones' lawyer slams Islam ahead of Dearborn mosque protest

The attorney for the Quran-burning pastor who plans to protest this afternoon outside the biggest mosque in metro Detroit said that Islam and Dearborn are threats to Christians.

Speaking Friday on a Christian radio station, Richard Thompson, President of the Ann Arbor-based Thomas More Law Center, said that unless Islam is confronted "they will destroy Christianity and hold Christians to second-class citizenship."

Thompson is representing Terry Jones, a Florida pastor known for burning the holy book for Muslims, the Quran. Jones plans to protest today from 1 to 3 p.m. outside the Islamic Center of America, a Dearborn mosque. He tried to rally there last year, but was prevented by a Dearborn judge who banned him for three years. A Detroit judge later overturned that decision.

Speaking on the Bob Dutko show on WMUZ-FM (103.5), Thompson said that "Islam is more than a religion." He said it's a political ideology that could destroy Christianity.

On Thursday, a federal judge ruled in favor of Jones' right to rally. Thompson had filed a lawsuit earlier this week on his behalf after the City of Dearborn asked him to sign a legal agreement before protesting, which Thompson said was unconstitutional.

The host of the radio show, Dutko, agreed with the judge's decision, saying it will "stave off sharia law" in Dearborn. "I'm glad to see this victory."

"The City of Dearborn is acting as though sharia law is in place," Dutko said.

Dutko and some other conservative Christians are concerned about Jones' right to protest. And they're concerned that four Christian missionaries were arrested at an Arab festival two years ago.

Thompson criticized some statements made by leaders with the Muslim group Council on American-Islamic Relations. Thompson worries that Islamic supremacists want to take over the U.S.

"This is their goal," Thompson said. "The City of Dearborn is advancing that goal."

Dearborn officials have dismissed claims that their city is run under Islamic law. More than a third of the city's residents are of Arab descent, many of them Muslim, making it a target for critics of Islam.

Meanwhile, the activist group By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) plans to hold a counter-protest today outside the mosque. Last year, members of the group disrupted a walk by Jones to the Arab festival.

But some Muslim leaders are urging people to stay away from the protest. Dawud Walid, head of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is telling Muslims not to attend the rally. He said he opposes what BAMN is doing, calling both the Jones protest and counter-protest "mutual foolishness."