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A Florida church has a highly controversial plan for commemorating the terrorist attacks of 9/11, one that has caused outrage among Americans of all faiths.

“We’re going to collect every donated, every purchased and brought Quran here to the property of Dove World Outreach Center, and we are going to burn them publicly.”

The city of Gainesville has told the church that book burning of any kind is against the fire code, but Ashley Coleman of CBS affiliate WTEV reports the church has no intention of backing down.

“This week, the Dove World Outreach Center was denied a burn permit by Gainesville Fire Rescue. The church says that’s not stopping them, though. The church told me, ‘There was no legal reason to turn us down. It was strictly a political move. We will on 9/11 still burn Qurans.”

Attorney Lawrence Walters also says the church has a right to hold the book burning. He tells Fox member station WOFL that burning the Quran is core political speech, which is protected by the First Amendment.

“What we have here is the government, being the city of Gainesville here, denying a permit to engage in this protest. It appears that they’re doing so because of their disagreement with the nature of the protest, and that’s a First Amendment problem. The church has the right to do this. In fact, they have the right to ignore the permit requirement if it imposes an unconstitutional burden on speech, which I believe it does.”

But even if the church has a right to the protest, that doesn’t mean the community supports it. An Orlando Sentinel editorial accuses Dove World Outreach Center of trying to gain attention through outrageous protests comparable to those of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church, a church perhaps best known for protesting the funerals of fallen soldiers.

“Like Westboro, the Dove Center deserves nothing but public scorn for this hate-filled stunt. The best outcome would be for this so-called church to slink back into anonymity.”

But rather than scorn, one group plans to fight back by promoting understanding. The Book of Signs Foundation, a nonprofit that gives away copies of the Quran in English, promises to distribute 50 Qurans to every copy burned by the church. A press release reads:

“Our campaign will let such people know that whatever symbolic gestures of hate they want to portray, they will be in vain and will only encourage us to increase our efforts at education.”

So what do you think? Does the Dove World Outreach Center have a right to burn the Quran?