SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) _ An advocate for persecuted Christians warns that they could be killed in retaliation for a Florida church burning copies of the Quran this Saturday.

The Rev. Carl Moeller, president of Open Doors USA, says the pastor of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville will provoke violence against Christians abroad with his bonfire on Sept. 11.

Moeller says the Rev. Terry Jones also will make it harder to share the gospel with Muslims, and will further tarnish the image of Christianity in the United States.

In an increasingly secular America, Moeller says the Quran burning “makes Christians look again like the village idiots.”