http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/25/florida.burn.quran.day/By the CNN Wire Staff
August 25, 2010 11:25 a.m. EDT
(CNN) -- An armed Christian organization which had pledged to protect a Florida church as it holds "International Burn a Quran Day" withdrew its support from the event Wednesday, saying it "does not glorify God," according to a posting on its website.
Right Wing Extreme, which describes itself as a Christian conservative group, also said in the posting it is asking the Dove World Outreach Center, based in Gainesville, Florida, not to hold the event "for the reason that it may diminish the work of the Holy Spirit to witness to Muslims." The event is planned for the ninth anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks.
While the group agrees with the Dove Center's stance on Islam, press coverage of recent events, such as "Burn a Quran Day," a recent "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" group on Facebook and the controversy surrounding a proposed mosque and Islam community center near ground zero in New York is "really inciting a lot of hatred and a lot of violence that's going on," Right Wing Extreme founder Shannon Carson told CNN. "We don't want to be a part of inciting violence and racism anymore."
The group's website posting said it believes the "liberal media" is intentionally using such stories "to distract, divide and enrage the public."