Koran-Torching Pastor Was Run Out of Germany

Rev. Terry Jones was ranting against Islam long before his plan to burn Korans on the anniversary of 9/11 made him internationally infamous. According to the church blog, Jones has been preaching Islamophobia since before 9/11, when he ran a sister church in a poor area of Cologne, Germany. The church says he left because the community had begun to fill with Muslim Turkish immigrants hostile to his message, the Daily Beast reports.

But Jones’ estranged daughter says he was actually kicked out of Cologne for using church funds to buy personal luxuries and pay for his eBay business. Now, Jones is running that business out of the Gainesville church, and living in the church’s 1,500-square-foot luxury parson’s quarters. But he won’t be for long. In what's surely not an attempt to cash in on the publicity, the church is reportedly selling its campus, recently slashing the asking price to $1.1 million. Did we mention Jones has a new book, entitled Islam is of the Devil? (More Terry Jones stories.)