A Boca Raton man has applied for a permit to shred a Koran in Sanborn Square on Memorial Day

Already denied permission to burn a Koran in downtown Boca Raton, a local man now wants approval to shred the Muslim holy book on Memorial Day.

Mark Rowley, 52, needs a city permit to stage the shredding event in Sanborn Park. He applied to burn a Koran in April, but the city denied him, citing a ban on fires in the park.

Rowley's application to stage an event to shred a Koran is under review, Assistant City Manager Mike Woika said.

Earlier this year, Terry Jones, a Gainesville pastor, drew international condemnation and sparked violence in the Middle East when he burned a Koran at his church.

On its website, Jones' church claims the Quran incites murder, rape and religious persecution. Rowley claims the Koran advocates rape and mistreatment of women.

He said he is unaffiliated with any church or other group.

"My idea is to blow all the wind out of the sails of the terrorists by having this come out in the public eye," Rowley said. "I completely disagree that any book that advocates rape is a holy text."

The Quran does not advocate abusing women, said Nezar Hamze, executive director of the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Miami.

"In Islam, you're taught to treat women with respect," he said. "Men are the head of household, but women are not second-class citizens."

South Florida Muslims are reeling from the Saturday arrests of two South Florida imams on charges of funneling money to the Pakistani Taliban for purchasing weapons and training militants, Hamze said.

A public event to destroy a Quran could worsen an already tense climate for Muslims, he said.

"These type of actions really polarize the Muslim community, and the backlash that is usually generated against the community is significant," he said. "I will try to reach out to [Rowley] and meet with him to understand his motives. If he has any misconceptions about the Quran, I would definitely try to talk with him about it."

Rowley was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, has a history of forced hospitalizations and pleaded guilty in 2006 to misdeameanor charges for spray painting "666" on a mosque, three churches and a synagogue, according to court records.

Symptoms of schizoaffective disorder include paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech and mood disorder, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which mental-health professionals use to diagnose illness.

Rowley is undergoing court-ordered medical treatment for mental illness. According to court records, he was committed in April to the South County Mental Health Center in Delray Beach under the state's Baker Act, and was released earlier this month.

"It's true that I was given drugs, and I am under an involuntary outpatient court order," Rowley said. "But I have a free-speech right, and a right to express myself."

The best response to offensive speech is more speech, said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, in an email.

"Living in a free society means that speech -- no matter how offensive, ugly or ignorant -- is protected under the First Amendment," he wrote. "Government can no more silence him for the content of his message than it can silence counter-protesters who advocate a message of religious tolerance."