Anti-Islam Book Scrapped Over Allegations

The
pastor of a huge Oklahoma City church has scrapped his book condemning
Islam over allegations of plagiarism and faked endorsements. Brian
Waite, pastor of 3,600-member Quail Springs Baptist Church, said
he's stopping sales of "Islam Uncovered" this week and is destroying
remaining copies, "The Oklahoman" reported.

Through
an anonymous source, the newspaper started investigating charges
of plagiarism against Waite, who admitted that "significant information"
in the 178-page book was not attributed properly. "Some references
were left off inadvertently. It was just, quite honestly, a mistake,"
said Waite, 36, when asked whether large portions of the book were
taken nearly verbatim from Internet sites and other sources.

Additionally,
Waite acknowledged he falsely claimed endorsements from nationally
syndicated columnist Cal Thomas and evangelist Franklin Graham.
Waite thought the two had approved the endorsements displayed on
the book's back cover. Waite said he "made calls to each, and apologies
were made," "The Oklahoman" reported.

About
2,000 copies of "Islam Uncovered" were printed, and about half had
been sold for $16.95 each, the publisher said. Waite said he won't
receive any compensation for the book and won't try to republish
it in a corrected form. "It is probably in the best interests of
all parties to not re-release this book," he said.