A church planning to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11 is ‘definitely praying’ about the controversial demonstration, its pastor said after Gen. David Petraeus warned it would put in danger the lives of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

In an interview on CNN, Terry Jones, of the Dove World Outreach Church in Gainesville, Fla., appeared to suggest church members might decide not to go ahead with the controversial demonstration.

Jones, author of a book called “Islam is of The Devil,” told CNN’s “American Morning” show that the burning was designed to send a message to radical Islam.

But when he was asked about the views of Petraeus, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Jones said: “We are actually very, very concerned of course; we are taking the general’s words serious. We are continuing to pray about the action on September 11. But we don’t know, how long do we back down?”

Pressed on whether this meant the church might decide not to burn the Quran, Jones told the show: “We have firmly made up our mind, but at the same time, we are definitely praying about it.”

Most popular Giant hay bale crushes ex-ELO star to death
Obama kicks off campaign with infrastructure plan
Updated 2 minutes ago Church ‘praying’ about plan to burn Quran
Acid thrown in face of second woman
Van der Sloot: I feel ‘guilty for everything’
..”We are weighing the thing that we are about to do. What it possibly could cause, what is our actual message, what are we trying to get across?” he added.

A member of the church, Fran Ingram, told msnbc.com that they had a “stack of about 150″ Qurans, which she said had been sent from across the world. “We are expecting to burn about 200 at least,” she said.

“I think we should go ahead personally,” Ingram added. “That’s what I think. I stand with the pastors. We need to go ahead with it.”

However, asked about how she would feel if the church decided to abandon the event, she told msnbc.com: “I would be in agreement … not like a puppet on a string … I believe in the word of God. We are hearing what God wants us to do.”

She said “a few of the pastors” would burn the Qurans on a field outside the church, while she and other members of the congregation remained inside. “They are going to take the risk,” Ingram said.

Jones, who runs the small, evangelical Christian church with an anti-Islam philosophy, says he has received more than 100 death threats and has started wearing a .40-caliber pistol strapped to his hip.

On Monday, Petraeus said the Quran-burning event would be exploited by the Taliban. The White House also spoke out against the plan as “un-American” and said it would put American diplomats and travelers at risk.

“It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort,” he said. “It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems. Not just here, but everywhere in the world, we are engaged with the Islamic community.”