Pastor says Koran threat cost him flock

NEW YORK, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Terry Jones, the Florida minister who caused an international stir by threatening to burn Korans, has visited the World Trade Center site for the first time.

Jones was in New York to announce a new organization, Stand Up America, the New York Post reported. He said Tuesday the group will provide information on "the dangers of radical Islam."

The pastor also complained that members of his church, Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, have disappeared. The church reportedly had about 50 members during the Koran flap.

"People come to church and want to hear, 'God loves you, you're a good person,'" he said, telling the Post his flock did not want to hear "the truth" about Islam.

Jones backed down on the Koran-burning, which was planned for Sept. 11, the ninth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. The proposal was widely condemned, with Gen. David Petraeus warning it would endanger U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and even opponents of the so-called Ground Zero mosque urging Jones to desist.