I'm confused as to why Pastor Terry Jones was given the guest column in Monday's Alligator.
While I fully embrace free speech, that does not mean the Alligator should serve as a platform for the Dove World Outreach Center to spread its homophobic, anti-Islam message. (This is the organization that sent children to school wearing shirts displaying "Islam is of the Devil" earlier in September.)
In allowing the Dove Center's senior pastor to write a guest column, rather than a letter to the editor, espousing such bigotry, this newspaper only validates the group's intolerance.
I am left questioning where the Alligator stands regarding Jones' depiction of homosexuality and Islam and whether you find his argument legitimate.
Hateful rhetoric aside, there is another reason to reconsider providing the Dove World Outreach Center use of this newspaper for its own purposes in the future.
Former members of the church have accused Jones and his wife Sylvia, also a pastor, of exploiting the volunteer labor of church members, who work long, unpaid hours for the Joneses' for-profit eBay business, TS and Company LLC, right here in Gainesville. Moreover, the Joneses are accused of controlling and manipulative behavior that sounds eerily cult-like. I'm sorry to say I purchased furniture through this company before I learned more about them.
Please do not continue to give voice to this "church" in the privileged space of the guest column. The Dove World Outreach Center only hurts our local community in more ways than one.
