Dispute over theology, background led to Caner probe

When Liberty University begins the investigation it announced last week into the background of Ergun Caner, president of its seminary, the panel doing the work could explore several questions.

Where did Caner grow up — in Ohio or in Turkey?

When did he come to the United States — as a teenager as he has said, or at age 4 as his parents’ divorce documents indicate?

Did Caner have a nominal Muslim upbringing, or was he raised in Islamic jihad, “trained to do that which was done on 11 September” as he told an audience in Jacksonville, Fla., in November 2001?

Did he formally debate scholars of other faiths, including Islam, as his online biography once claimed?

Is Caner’s middle name Mehmet, as it’s shown on the cover of books he’s written — or is it Michael, as it’s listed on the concealed-weapons permit he got last year in Lynchburg?

Should he include an honorary degree in his curriculum vitae, which typically is the string of earned degrees that appears after the names of faculty members and administrators in university publications?

From bold statements to low-key image enhancers, issues raised by Internet bloggers have focused on just how colorful Caner’s Muslim background was when he converted from the Islamic faith to Christianity as a teenager.

Liberty University did not publicly respond to the bloggers’ allegations for most of this year, regarding them as the outgrowth of “a theological dispute,” spokesman Johnnie Moore said.

Last Monday, the university posted this notice: “Liberty University Provost Dr. Ron Godwin is forming a committee to investigate a series of accusations against Ergun Caner, president of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.

“The Internet allegations have questioned public statements Caner has made regarding the details of his personal life story.”

Caner, who joined the seminary’s faculty in 2003 and became its president in 2005, posted this comment later in the week: “I am thrilled that Liberty University is forming this committee, and I look forward to this entire process coming to a close.”

In February, Caner posted on his website a response to blog comments, acknowledging the questions and saying, “every minister has made pulpit mistakes.” He also said, “I have never intentionally misled anyone.”

The earliest blog posts came from advocates of Calvinism, a strict view of salvation that Caner openly opposed.

The Internet exchanges became more pointed in April when Jason Smathers, a Christian website designer, posted copies of the 1978 divorce settlement between Acar Caner and Monica Caner, who had three sons.

The documents, which The News & Advance obtained from a courthouse in Columbus, Ohio, indicated the family moved from Sweden to the United States when Ergun Caner was 4 years old. They bought a house, and paid taxes, court records show.

The divorce agreement allowed Acar Caner to teach his children about the Muslim faith. Primary custody of the children was given to their mother, who could teach them about another faith if she chose, the documents show.

Ergun Caner gave vivid accounts of his Muslim upbringing to church audiences in Florida and Texas shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

“I was raised as a Sunni Muslim” in Europe, Caner said at First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., according to a recording of his talk there on Nov. 20, 2001.

“I was the son of the muezzin, the one who does the call to prayer at the top of the minaret,” Caner said, describing himself as being similar to a “preacher’s kid.”

“May I submit to you, until I was 15 years old I was in the Islamic youth jihad. And so until I came to America; until I found Jesus Christ as Lord, I was trained to do that which was done on 11 September. As were thousands of youth,” Caner said on the recording.

That same month, at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, Caner gave this description of his Islamic background:

“And coming to America I had lived under the misconception that you hated me, as a Muslim,” Caner said in remarks that were rebroadcast by Focus on the Family in April.

“That really affected a lot of what I did in my younger years,” Caner told the Texas audience.

“I’m not really proud of the fact that I am part of, was part of, Islamic Jihad. I’m not proud of the fact that it actually was my people who were involved in what took place, the horror,” he said, referring to the Sept. 11 attacks.

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Caner’s academic specialties include apologetics, a branch of theology that seeks to defend or prove the divine nature of Christianity.

That specialty apparently led Caner into exchanges with theologians who argue in support of Calvinism, which takes a stern view of how people are destined for salvation.

Some participants in those discussions, including James White, a Calvinist theologian, then challenged Caner’s online biography. As of last July, the biography said Caner had debated “Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and other religious leaders in 13 countries and 35 states.”

Those statements have since been removed from the online biography. In addition, in his February statement, Caner admitted, after an accusation from White, that he had incorrectly named a Muslim scholar as someone he had debated.

Calling White’s accusation “a legitimate complaint,” Caner said in his statement, “Sin is sin, and if I am dumb enough to say something like that, I should be man enough to deal with it and never make such a grievous error again.”

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Caner holds several academic degrees, including a doctorate of theology from the University of South Africa, and says on his website that he was a resident student at its Pretoria campus.

He also lists three master’s degrees: one in history, from The Criswell College in Dallas; and two from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary at Wake Forest. Those degrees are master of divinity and master of theology. None of his critics have questioned those degrees.

Also listed beside Caner’s name, in Liberty University’s online catalog of graduate courses and faculty, is a doctor of ministry degree. On his website, Caner says the doctor of ministry was an honorary degree, one of two that he has been given.

The university declined last week to say how it plans to conduct its investigation. Through its spokesman, Johnnie Moore, LU issued this statement Friday:
“At this time, Liberty University is not going to make any further comment on the issue. The matter is under investigation, and to comment during the investigation would be premature.”