Ergun Caner is one of the most prominent figures in the evangelical movement. He is also one of the most deceptive.
A self-professed Muslim convert to Christianity, Caner plays an important, and arguably dangerous, role in the community. After the 9/11 attacks, when many Americans were searching for answers, Caner stepped up with enthusiasm to present himself as an expert on Islam. He used his own "personal history" (much of it since demonstrated as bogus) to confirm his audience's deeply-held suspicions about the faith that many of them blamed for the attacks.
Today, as president of the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and a professor of apologetics, he exhibits tremendous influence in shaping the next generation of evangelical leaders.
A burly man with a charming smile, Caner is an eloquent speaker and an even better storyteller. He blends the Gospel with humor. He's a big fan of Glenn Beck and NASCAR. He speaks about love. He tweets. And, he is well-liked by his students. In the five years that he's been at Liberty, the school's enrollment has nearly tripled.
Caner is a protégé of Paige Patterson, the controversial and successful leader of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, who is perhaps best known for forcing the Southern Baptist Convention into the political right. Paterson spoke at the school's commencement this year.
By the time he came to Liberty University, a Baptist school in Lynchburg, Virginia founded by the late Reverend Jerry Falwell, Caner had already become a prolific writer. He and his brother had written several books aimed at evangelical audiences. Many of the books recounted their paths to Christ. It's hard not to be moved by the narrative -- true or not.
Born in Turkey to a religious father, a muezzin (one who performs the call to prayer), Caner grew up detesting the United States and all it stood for. He learned bits and pieces about his future homeland from watching the Dukes of Hazzard. During his teenage years, his family immigrated to the United States. His father came here to spread the message of Islam and build mosques.
During his senior year in high school, his life changed. Caner found Christ. A friend, "a solitary Christian boy," refused to take no for an answer and insisted that Caner learn about Christianity. He invited him to his tiny store-front church where Caner talked to the pastor, a man with a sixth grade education who questioned him about his firmly-held convictions. Caner was amazed to discover the true teachings of a faith he had been trained his whole life to hate. He accepted Christianity, as did his two brothers, Emir and Erdem.
When he told his father, he was disowned. It was, he writes, a difficult experience for young Ergun, who didn't speak to his father for many years. In one of his books, he writes, "For the other 95 percent of the world's population, conversion to Jesus Christ often means disowning, disinheritance, expulsion, arrest, and even death." But he was resolute in his newfound faith and was willing to give it all up for eternal salvation. Caner and his younger brother Emir (president of Truett-McConnell College, a small Bible college in Cleveland, Georgia) became shining examples to evangelicals.
If a hardened and hidebound jihadist "trained to do that which was done on 11 September" could come around to accepting Christ, the logic went, it proved beyond doubt that the message of Christ was universal.
The main problem with Caner's journey from Jihad to Jesus is that much of it is fiction, a complex lie made up to give his conversion more authenticity. He fabricated almost everything. For someone who allegedly fought jihad, Caner's understanding of the very basic tenets of the faith he is a so-called expert in is rudimentary.
Caner does not know the difference between Islam's article of faith and the first chapter of the Qur'an. He's claimed that the lunar month of Ramadan lasts for 40 days. In his book, he writes that he performed all of the rakats (daily prayers). The actual word is salah. It's not a difference most people would know, but he says he is an expert on Islam. Muslims, he once said, followed something he called the "tobaad." He's claimed to have debated Muslim scholars who've never heard of him. Court records from his parent's divorce indicate that he was in Ohio when he was a young child, long before his alleged move from Turkey. On his books, his middle name is Mehmet (Muhammad in Turkish), yet it is listed as Michael on his concealed-weapons permit in Virginia. Before 9/11, he went by E. Michael Caner.
In one speech, Caner told a crowd that outside the mosque in Kabul there was a sign that read, "Do not teach the women to read and write." The story may or may not be true, but Caner, to give authority to the tale, told the crowd what was written in the native tongue: "bahasha uwtara muwtara seeteeroh." That's neither Dari nor Arabic nor Urdu nor Turkish nor Pashtu. It is an entirely made up language.
To his audience, Caner's tale of moving from darkness to light reaffirmed their convictions about the superiority of Christianity and the decadence of Islam. But the facts eventually caught up with Caner, thanks to a Muslim student in London who methodically went through his speeches and interviews, chronicling each and every one of his lies. Others quickly piled on, including some within the church.
Ironically, in 2005, Caner came to the defense of Florida-based preacher Jerry Vines who angered the Muslim community with his demonization of the Prophet Muhammad. A piece in the Florida Times-Union quoted Caner, who defended Vines by saying, "No one expected a Baptist preacher to actually research."
That's precisely why Caner's duplicitous persona went unchallenged for so long. No one expected a preacher to so boldly fabricate his entire background. It was all a ruse, intended to play off the evangelical movement's ignorance and fear of Islam.
For months, Liberty University refused to investigate Caner's background. Now that local press and even the Associated Press have written about the controversy, the school has set up a committee to investigate the allegations. If they excuse his behavior, they risk tarnishing their credibility. If they punish him, they risk provoking the anger of the evangelical community.
An unrepentant Caner maintains his innocence, saying that he "never intentionally misled anyone." He blames the campaign to discredit him on Calvinists and their Muslim interlocutors. At the same time, many of his duped followers are refusing to accept reality. They are taking their anger out on those who have exposed the fraud and not on the charlatan himself.
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I have listened to the original videos in U Tube
Although I really cant get into all of 'where he was born, or how long he was in the US" and these issues, I can listen to him, and hear him mis pronounce, or mis state the meanings of words that all of the peoples of Islam have in common.
I am an Asian Muslim, and learned Islam in SoAsia. I dont speak Arabic or Turk. The words..and the Shahada...the al Fatiha...are all the same, and what all Muslims know.
alot every day...but he confused it with the shahada that is something else all together.
I would like to say that I disagree with anyone saying that Ergun Caner was never Muslim. In Islam, only Allah knows the heart. In Islam, we can say that if he ever practiced Islam, he didnt learn to pronounce the Arabic words, or learn thier meanings, and that he was not rightly guided.
He, if he chooses, should be welcomed to learn Islam through scholars and conversations and debates with real Muslims. I dont think...as far as Islam, or Muslims are concerned that he should be shunned. He did nothing to damage the reputation of Islam, or Muslims, the damage has only been done to himself. I am sure that EVERY person of Islam can relate...personally.
However, until he answers to the misgivings about his witness, the discrepancies should continue to be pointed out in public.
After Septermbre 11, 2001, alot of these 'Islamic experts', not just those who promote Christianity, but 'security experts' and supposely 'ex jihadists'.
If you notice, all of these supposed experts are never practicing Muslims you see in the media.
Unfortuantly, the U Tube videos that exposed this charater have been taken down. It seems that the freedom of expression extends to bashing Islam...such as the cartoons...but excludes exposing a fraud.
However, I am sure that those vids can be mustered up in the internet o sphere some where as widely as they are known and as many people that have seen them.
Goodbye Eugan Caner...next...Walid Shoebat...Bridgett Gabriel in the bull pen.
Christians why do this? If Caner had an explanation for this mountain of evidence against his 'testimony' wouldn't he have explained it by now? This has been going on for months. Instead, he changed his bio three times that I know of. Now of course, the MSM has made great fodder over it as many of us predicted would happen. The result, of course, is that all Christians are indeed stereotyped as "falling for anything".
Christians do not have the market sewn up on lying. Our government if full of deceitful liars without a shred of conscience. People lie and that's the fact of our nature. Christians lie, Muslims lie, Jews lie, Buddhists lie, ad infinitum.
Dr. Caner, I have no doubt that many of your supporters will report this thread to you. If you care at all about what is left of your testimony, the time to come clean is now. That's the Christian way.
"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall". Proverbs 16:18
I agree but disagree. If Caner is guilty, he needs to come clean and accept the consequences, no doubt about it. I myself am hesitant to believe everything I hear coming from a media with a long record of and increasing hostility towards Christians who take their faith seriously. Things can be repeated and embellished ad infinitum until the truth of a matter is buried under the sheer weight of repetition. I don't want to be one of those people who goes along with what everyone else says merely to gain some sort of credibility with people who probably despise me or at least what I believe regardless of what I say. I'm not saying this shouldn't be investigated, but I'd want to know a lot more for myself before I completely signed on to this.
I don't think Christians have the market cornered on naivete, either. People get elected to high office with paper thin resumes these days, and then some are shocked, SHOCKED, about what they do in office, or that they actually didn't tell the truth!
No, I don't want to be one of those "me too" Christians who simply parrots the larger world's lines so they'll like me for 1/2 a second.
Regardless of the failings of its adherents, at least the Founder of our religion lived a life above reproach. So, while I would be saddened by this, we follow Christ first and last, and only others as they follow Him.
I agree in principal with everything you said. I have, however seen much of the evidence. The OP here pretty much laid it out. How could a 'devout' Muslim not know how many days there are in Ramadan? How can Caner repeatedly say that he came to this country in 1979, when there are legal documents to prove that just isn't so? How can he have claimed to learn about America by watching the Dukes of Hazzard while in a majority Muslim country when it didn't even start to air until 1979? How could he claim to have debated prominent Muslims such as Shabir Ally, when Shabir Ally says he has never met him?
Caner could have avoided this media storm, by doing the obvious. Either factually correct the record, or repent of his sin and move on. I am no fan of the exceedingly liberal MSM who just love to show Christians in a bad light. But neither will I not speak up when a Christian leader is doing exactly what many people already assume... that we are all hypocrites.
I won't be part of the circle the wagons approach around Caner, when it's clear, he hasn't been forthcoming with the truth. I will be very happy to post the links to the pertinent sites if you'd like it.
Blessings to you!
For all of the attempts to demonize the religion, most people know remarkably little of it. For instance, the word Jihad has many translations and the concept was divided into a greater jihad and a lesser jihad. The purpose of the greater Jihad was an internal struggle to keep the faith and to strive to remain steadfast...the lesser jihad was more akin to the idea of defense of the Islamic community. In fact, there are many verses in the Koran that go on to point out how Christians and Jews should be respected as they are "peoples of the book." All that being considered, the portrayal of Islam as being inferior, violent, and backwards does not seem to hold.
One would wish that Jews, Christians, and Muslims, all drawing upon a similar religious tradition, would be able to respect one another due to this shared heritage. Those who try to spread hatred should be ashamed of themselves.
The most religious people want to believe. They want some affirmation that their prejudices and emotions are oriented in the "right" direction, and frauds like Caner take full advantage of them. It is religious theater, and no doubt that privately Caner felt the deception was justified to fight an "evil" adversary.
And so conservative Christianity slips down the slippery slope of "the end justifies the means." Doubtless most students and faculty at Liberty believe implicitly the lies foisted on them. They, too, are victims. But they are brought up to tolerate lying for a "good cause" -- and that will possibly wind up being the destruction of Christianity as a major influence in America. The moralists have lost their morality. The salt has lost its saltiness. The lightbulb has burnt out. The candle is extinguished. Having used the tools of the Devil, the Christian Church has become devilish. Play a requiem. Mourn.
Also, you make the mistake that Christians cannot and do not examine the same evidence, but come to different conclusions. Sounds more like arrogance than sound reasoning to me.You also fail to consider that atheists/agnostics may have their own reasons for not wanting to believe. That shoe can fit on more than one foot, my friend.
Perhaps you are the one who qualifies as a bigot- denigrating a group of people you've never even met.
In the school you denigrate so readily, class after class presented argument after argument against what we so-called fundamentalist bigots believe- so much so that at more than one point it grew tiresome.
But, of course, you knew this because you're intimately acquainted with something you've never personally been acquainted with.
Get your facts straight and try again. If Caner is a fraud, he should be dealt with. But I'm at least willing to hear all sides before passing judgment. Are you?
I also very closely followed the life and ministry of Jerry Falwell. I happen to be old enough to have done so!
But on the issue of examining the same evidence and yet coming to different conclusions, all too often we Christians are too willing to have arrived at the conclusion first and then interpret the evidence accordingly. Christian fundamentalists do this in the sciences. I know! There are some very compelling evidences that this man has spoken untruths. Very compelling. Instead of trying to blame others and complain they are trying to destroy him, he should deal with the accusations directly and immediately.
I would very much like to be wrong and have to apologize for my suspicions here. Unfortunately, experience has been very much the other way in my lifetime. Regards.
The Scriptures make this statement: "Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after." Even if a few of these accusations are correct, and from the records, it appears that at least some are, then instead of accusing some conspiracy of being out to get him, he should acknowledge those things openly, and repent.
I didn't say Muslims never lie. But his meetings have been open, and many recorded. Do you want to take issue with those? As for my knowledge of Islam -- it is probably better than average for a non-Muslim. Yours?
Muslims would have no particular reason to lie about him their faith in order to defend their faith -- taqiyya, That particular thing was really only effective when there was not so much access to details of their faith, both the Koran and the accompanying writings. Details of their faith, both Shia and Sunna (which Caner claims) are freely available and searchable. There would be no profit for them to lie about him.
If Caner proves to be innocent, I shall be quick to apologize in an appropriate place here on Huffpost.
You're willing to believe everything the author of this article says without checking it out for yourself, yet Christians or those who go to LU are the 'mindless drones'. Please.
And if Caner is telling the truth, would any one of you be willing to post an apology? I'll wait for the check in the mail.
You don't know the first thing about this school, and your willingness to quickly pass judgment about someone or something you don't know reveals more about yourselves than the people or institutions you sanctimoniously accuse.
Full disclosure: I just graduated from this seminary. If Caner lied, then he should be fired. Guess it's good we don't hold our politicians or the 'heroes' of the left to the same standard.
BTW, I actually typed this post myself, in under 5 minutes, and thought of its content myself! Guess I haven't thought the 'great thoughts' to be one of y'all, but maybe you can edumicate me. Who's the real bigots here?
Yes, people often look at Liberty University and think of frauds and charlatans. Liberty just had Glenn Beck as a graduation speaker and awarded him a doctorate! Almost enough reason right there.
But I think you miss the point.
The fact is a person brought up in Islam -- especially a jihadist would actually *know* the terms, would *know* Arabic, would *know* the doctrines of Islam, either from a Sunni or from a Shia position. This man does not. By claiming he does, he lies. It is obvious. He has been caught in his lies.
Judging such is not being a "guardian of an alternate morality." Rather, it is defending the good-old fashioned Judeo-Christian ethic, "Thou shalt not bear false witness."
I have had heroes turn out to be frauds. We find it unbearable to find it true that a person held in so high esteem could be a fraud. But if we are not to fall into the same condemnation as they, we must hold truth much more precious than their reputation. And it should make us cautious.
He can't teach what he doesn't know but they encourage making things up, I guess.
And, to get the details, you might try clicking on and reading some of the links. Informative, if that's what you really want of course.