Christian Right's Favorite Muslim Convert Exposed as Jihadi Fraud

[kpete]

Source: Alternet

Christian Right's Favorite Muslim Convert Exposed as Jihadi Fraud
Liberty Seminary President Ergun Caner claims he traveled the road 'from jihad to Jesus,' but Baptist bloggers say his stories of terrorist training are false.
May 9, 2010 |



Ergun Caner's rise to the top of conservative evangelical celebrity -- and to the presidency of the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell -- was fueled by how aggressively he capitalized on the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, to portray himself as a personal example of the power of Jesus to save even someone raised as a jihadist, which he claimed to be.

There's only one problem with that part of Caner's story: it appears not to be true.

In 2001, Caner was pastoring a church in Colorado. After 9/11, he became a hot commodity on the speaking circuit as someone who knew about the evils of Islam firsthand. Before the shock waves from the terror attacks had died down, he was lacing his sermons with his own tale of having been raised in Turkey as the son of a religious leader and trained in a madrassa to wage jihad against Americans.

He said he'd learned about America from TV shows -- "Dukes of Hazzard" in some tellings, "Dallas" or "Andy Griffith" in others. He talked about learning English after moving to Brooklyn as a teenager. His personal testimony was used to sell books and videotapes. In one 2001 sermon, "From Jihad to Jesus," he said he didn't know much about Christians the first 17 years of his life because "there's not that many of them in Turkey." One CD was until recently marketed this way: "Do you believe God can change the heart of a hardened terrorist? Former Muslim Ergun Caner, who came to America to be a terrorist, shares his testimony of how he came to know Jesus Christ."



Read more: http://www.alternet.org/news/146797/christian_right%27s_favorite_muslim_convert_exposed_as_jihadi_fraud

[Turbineguy]

1. Religious-conservatives

reward liars well. It's hard to overcome such temptation.

[AlbertCat]

2. a personal example of the power of Jesus

And he is!

The Power of Jesus to get a bunch of credulous, unthinking faith-believers to follow any unprincipled lying charlatan who wants to take their money by just using his name.

[cliffordu]

3. These fucking people are spiritual carneys.

[boppers]

22. Carnies have more integrity.

They're nowhere near as brazenly deceptive, callously indifferent, and shamefully hypocritical as the pied-pipers of religion.

[cliffordu]

23. Can't disagree with that....

Fo sho.

[SpiralHawk]

4. These Republichristians have totally perverted the spirit and word of Christ

It's Luciferic, is what it is...

[jberryhill]

8. It's almost enough to make a believer out someone, isn't it?

If these people would bother to read their own prophecies, they'd have a pretty clear idea of what is going on, and how far off track they've gotten.

[alfredo]

5. You can't con an honest man. It seems the right spends a lot of time conning

each other.

[No Elephants]

16. Of course you can con people who are honest.

[alfredo]

19. Not as easily. Would Madoff had been as successful if he was dealing with

people who weren't easily lured by "easy money"?

[Canuckistanian]

6. He came from Sweden, not Turkey

And moved to America a few years after he was born.

What a fraud.

[SemperEadem]

7. sounds to me as if this caner dude has palpable contempt for xtians

if he's willing to be a bald faced lair and pimp liberty university... and liberty university must have contempt for xtians if they're choosing to serve mammon over god and the truth.

counterfeit xtians.

[KamaAina]

10. Oh, they absolutely do

and liberty university must have contempt for xtians if they're choosing to serve mammon over god and the truth.

Years ago, Liberty was facing bankruptcy. Guess who bailed Foulwell out?

The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, that's who. Seriesly.

[Drops_not_Dope]

9. Link to a great Christian blog exposing the truth

about Ergun Caner.

http://debbiekaufman.wordpress.com/page/2/

[alp227]

11. Well, religion as a concept is a fraud anyways. n/t

[Plucketeer]

12. Amen brother!

:rofl:

[Douglas Carpenter]

13. good to see that Baptist and other Evangelicals are a big part of the expose

[AlbertCat]

15. good to see that Baptist and other Evangelicals are a big part of the expose

Yes... religious sects fighting each other has always been good! :eyes:

[Wednesdays]

14. Quelle surprise!

Not.

[RamboLiberal]

17. Be interesting to see if Liberty U will admit being conned

Liberty Forms Inquiry Committee about Seminary President Caner

This afternoon, Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia released by email this statement about Dr. Ergun Caner, president of the university seminary:

"Liberty University does not evaluate personnel based upon blogs. However, in light of the fact that mainstream media have recently raised questions, the Provost of Liberty University is appointing a committee to look into these matters. A Decision as to the efficacy, or or lack of same, is expected by June 30."

One week ago, ChristianityToday.com published online a report highlighting extensive questions about Dr. Caner's background, speeches, and comments. Bloggers have alleged that Caner has knowingly deceived the Christian community about his Muslim background.

Some of these allegations include:

* Growing up in Turkey, when he actually grew up in Ohio.
* Being raised in a devout Muslim home, rather than a nominal one.
* Having been involved in Islamic jihad.
* Having debated dozens of Muslims about the Islamic faith, although there is no video or audio evidence.

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2010/05/liberty_forms_i_1.html

I hope Rachel Maddow gets on this case - her & her staffs in-depth reporting on these kind of stories are great.

[Douglas Carpenter]

18. that is a very interesting article - it shows the controversy within the Evangelical movement

from their perspective. There has always been within large parts of the Evangelical tradition a benign acceptance of exaggeration and even a certain amount of flat-out lying if it was done for the "glory of God". Ergun Caner seems to have overstepped the unspoken limit of acceptable hyperbole and fudging the truth for the cause of winning souls for Christ.

[grantcart]

20. If it ends up that he has an account at Rentboy.com

Then I will accept it as definitive proof that there is a benevolent God with a kick ass sense of humor and return to attend Church every Sunday.

[MisterP]

21. next up, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Brigitte Gabriel! nt