I’ve been wondering for a while just how long it would take before national media outlets got around to the Ergun Caner story. It’s the kind of story many reporters dream of, with Lies and Corruption in High Places. It fits most all the templates established since Watergate. The more that becomes known about Ergun Caner, the more enticing the story must look to a good reporter.I’d been watching the story pick up steam for several months in the blogosphere, and, two weeks ago, after finally writing about it myself, I received a request from John W. Kennedy of Christianity Today for an interview, which I granted. As you can imagine, I’m not at all accustomed to getting calls from the press, but my interview with Mr. Kennedy was quite pleasant and professional.
Well, yesterday, Mr. Kennedy’s article for Christianity Today’s was posted on line. I’ve read it carefully, and I have a few thoughts and a few questions.
First, he did quote me accurately & I thank him. I stand by what I said. But I must say that I find the whole focus of the article to be very much “off target,” beginning with the title itself.
The article is titled “Bloggers Target Seminary President” when it really should be “Seminary President’s Dishonesty Exposed”. The actions of bloggers in uncovering Caner’s… um… embellishments, while interesting, is totally secondary. It might have made a good sidebar to the main article, but it isn’t the main thing here. The whole tone of the article – “Well, look at that! People are asking questions! I wonder why?” – is off the mark. CT’s article also makes it sound as if a bunch of Calvinists were going after Caner because he opposes Calvinist doctrine. This is an attempt to deflect away from the real issue, which is Caner's record of dishonesty. If the charges are true, the theological position of the person bringing the charges is irrelevant. It is just a red herring. In regards to myself, sure I disagree with Caner's stance on Calvinism, but there are a lot of other publically known pastors, preachers, and teachers, with whom I have theological differences, but whose integrity I have absolutely no reason to question. The real story should be about Dr. Caner’s nine-year penchant for bending the truth about his past.
Mr. Kennedy completely fails to deal with any of the evidence which has been gathered and documented that shows Dr. Caner’s pattern of falsehood. I know that Mr. Kennedy spoke with Jason Smathers; both Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Smathers told me so. Why is none of the evidence that Mr. Smathers collected discussed in the piece? It’s not like these are wild, unsubstantiated rumors, Mr. Smathers has gathered court records and other documents that directly contradict the timeline presented in Dr. Caner's readily available speeches on audio and video.
As the left-wing atheistic People for the American Way put it, “These are no vague or reckless charges, but carefully documented exposés that draw from Caner’s sermons, speeches, and online videos, and other public records.” If worldlings (c.f. 1 John 2:15)can understand what this story is really about, why doesn’t Christianity Today “get it?”
While both Ergun & Emir Caner declined to speak to Christianity Today (maybe the first time ever that Ergun Caner has turned down a request for an interview by a national media outlet), we now have official statements from Liberty University, in the person of Dr. Elmer Towns.
Dr. Towns, age 77, was co-founder, along with Jerry Falwell, of Liberty University back in 1971, and now serves as Vice President of Liberty University & Dean of Liberty’s School of Religion. According to Christianity Today, Dr. Towns and the Board of Directors of Liberty University “are satisfied that Caner has done nothing theologically inappropriate.” Theologically inappropriate? What in tarnation does that mean?"It's not an ethical issue, it's not a moral issue," Christianity Today quotes Dr. Towns as saying. "We give faculty a certain amount of theological leverage. The arguments of the bloggers would not stand up in court." Repeatedly lying over a period of nine years is not an ethical or moral issue? A pattern of distorting the truth is simply “theological leverage?” Wow! I shudder to think how far someone might have to go before Dr. Towns would classify his actions as unethical or immoral!
And, as far as the evidence that has been gathered “not stand(ing) up in court,” I think that it fully accords to established rules of evidence and easily meets the standard of “preponderance of the evidence” required in civil court, and would, in my decidedly unlawyerly opinion, also meet the standard of “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt” required in criminal cases.
Further, Christianity Today reports that Dr. Towns believes that these are just attacks against Caner because of his opposition to the “Camel Method” of evangelizing Muslims. That doesn’t stand up to even the most cursory of examinations. Dr. Caner made his publicized remarks about the “Camel Method” in February of this year, yet James White was asking for help locating recordings of Ergun Caner’s debates over four months prior, back in October of 2009. Also, Dr. White has stated that he pretty much agrees with Dr. Caner’s opinion of the “Camel Method.”
Dr. Town’s statements, as reported by Christianity Today, raise new questions as to just how in touch Liberty University’s leadership really is with what is going on, and Liberty University’s academic integrity is now even more in doubt.I have no doubt that Dr. Caner and Liberty University want this to just all go away. Who wouldn’t? But it isn’t going to go away. The situation continues, and needs to be dealt with honestly, forthrightly, and soon.
Postscript:
Because it was mentioned in the article, I want to briefly discuss the proposed resolution to the Southern Baptist Convention that I brought up quoted here. I exchanged e-mails with the author of the proposed draft resolution. He told me that he has been advised by good and Godly leaders in the SBC, not necessarily friends of Ergun Caner's, not to pursue such a resolution. As the CT article stated, "But in recent years, the SBC Committee on Resolutions has ruled as out of order nearly all efforts against individuals." So, don't look for anything to come to the floor at the Convention regarding this matter. (And I just caught this... I didn't tell CT that a blogger had written the draft, that is an assumption on Mr. Kennedy's part.)Also:
James White, Fred Butler, & Tom Chantry all weighed in on the Christianity Today article yesterday.
13 comments:
Towns's quotes as related by Kennedy are such a hash I have to wonder what he actually said. Without further context they lead me to wonder who if anyone has been sanctioned or dismissed by the seminary since Jerry Sr. died, since (and perhaps I'm reading between the lines here) that's the context in which Towns is interpreting the accusations against Caner.
When Towns mentions ethics, morality, and theology I have to assume he has a set of criteria for dismissing a member of the seminary administration in mind (and I suspect he meant "theological leeway" rather than "theological leverage," but I don't know).
I believe Liberty has dismissed or exiled seminary faculty at Caner's level for sexual sins in the past; I don't know if e.g. there's contractual language at work here, or if seminary faculty and administrators serve at the discretion of the board.
Yep. It's Christianity Today. What did you expect?
As I see it, there were two possibilities on reporting this. One was to present it as a human interest story - two groups in disagreement, presenting both sides, etc. The second was to dig in deep and try to get to the truth.
CT opted for the former. It seems that the author simply adopted an opinion of what was happening, accepted what Dr. Towns said was the reason, and left it at that. I found myself wondering if this would get any coverage in World Magazine.
I'm afraid the secular media won't be so content with that kind of surface level analysis. No matter what else they are, they understand that integrity and honesty are important for leaders, particularly of the religious kind, if only because of the hypocrisy involved when not having that kind of integrity.
What's worse is that people who ought to be asking for answers are instead adopting a bunker mentality - "it's all these people who are against us" (the "haters," to quote from Mr. Caner's tweet last week) - and this mentality allows them to dismiss even potentially valid criticisms from any and all sources. This isn't Dan Rather trying to forge documentation for an expose; this is someone who has a history of saying contradictory things, and because (as James White said recently) "the Internet never forgets," he has been exposed.
Just sad, is all I can say. I liked your quote, BTW.
While the Internet never forgets, I went to the "Wayback Machine" to see the old biography of Dr. Caner. And was unsuccessful. The old links all went to the current biography. I have been to the Internet Archives several times before, when web sites that I use in my classes have changed, and either have found the old page or the page was just gone. I've never had it link out to a current site.
I don't see a conspiracy here, but am curious about how you get that to happen--if anyone reading this happens to know.
Bennett Willis
Bennett: I could by wrong, but my understanding is that the Wayback Machine won't archive something until it is requested by someone, and even then, there may be a lag between when it is archived and when it is made available.
It's possible no one requested a copy of the bio prior to the change, so it may not be there.
This is the oldest bio I've been able to locate online. I did get it off of the Wayback Machine several weeks ago:
Biography of Dr. Ergun Caner (from erguncaner.com circa 2004)
"He has been called the “Intellectual Pit Bull of the evangelical world” by the national media.
He debated Michael Moore in a nationally syndicated column entitled “Hatriotism.”
He has spoken on over fifty university and college campuses, debating Hindi, Buddhist, Muslim and Bah’ai scholars. He has been interviewed on virtually every national media outlet, and has been castigated by the Washington Post and the LA Times. He has addressed the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference twice, and has given keynote addresses at seven major denominational meetings.
He has spoken to over fifty thousand college and high school students in major concerts. Recently, he was called the “leading young voice for cultural apologetics and world religions” by the PAX network.
"In the war on terror, he understands both sides...because he has been on both sides. Dr. Ergun Mehmet Caner is Full Professor of Theology and Church History at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Dr. Caner was raised the son of an Islamic leader. In 1982, he converted to the Christian faith after emigrating to this country. As a consequence of this conversion, he was disowned by his family. Caner has three Masters Degrees and two Doctorates, the Doctor of Theology coming from the University of South Africa. Along with his brother, Dr. Emir Caner (Professor of History and Anabaptist Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) Ergun is author of eleven books, including the new best seller CHRISTIAN JIHAD (Kregel 2004). CHRISTIAN JIHAD has been endorsed by Beth Moore and Ann Coulter, and examines the recent war in light of thirteen hundred years of Islamic-Christian conflict. His previous books on Islam have sold almost 200,000 copies. UNVEILING ISLAM won the Gold Medallion Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. Since the September 11th bombing, Caner has appeared on such national television shows as Fox News, various CNN shows, MSNBC, the 700 Club, Zola Levitt, John Ankerberg and others. He and his wife, Jill, have two sons."
Squirrel
CT is in an awkward position. A major Christian organization has clearly come down on the wrong side of a moral question. And I expect that Dr. Caner is the featured person in several column feet of material in CT over the years--another difficult situation for them as they are probably doing at least a bit of "Why didn't we see this?".
It seemed to me that they "ran it up the flagpole" and then got out of the way. The fallout will not be their responsibility--as it is not. I am personally confident that Mr. Kennedy read (and possibly even independently checked a few of) the documents that were cited by Jason and others. It is really easy to find Dr. Caner's comments so that would have taken only the time to watch them. He must have hours of YouTube footage.
The contrast between Dr. Caner's recorded statements and the documentation was clear and if factor in CT's position, I think that the article showed the true situation. They were just not as emphatic as they easily could have been.
Dr. Townes was quoted saying things that are clearly not sustainable over time. The blowback from those will be all over him before long. It would have been interesting to be a "fly on the wall" in that Liberty Board meeting--and maybe even more so in the next one. If you were a board member wouldn't you be reading this right now?
As an "out of the blog" start, it seemed weak but understandable. Now, we will wait to see what happens next.
I have been interested in this from the point of view of how people deal with problems of their own making. It seems to me that there are enough examples around that Dr. Caner and Liberty should have known better than to do what they have done. Maybe they have an example in mind that worked, but if they do, it was a rare event.
I tell my students, "If you mess up, confess. People will usually forgive you if you don't make a habit of messing up." I usually follow up with a story about someone who did (or did not do) this. I think that this will become another supporting example--but I have industry stories that are more relevant so I'll probably use them. :)
Bennett Willis
I've been thinking a lot about why Christianity Today took the stance that they did. The truth is that Liberty University buys a lot of ad space in their magazine. How much money we're talking about, I have no idea, but I would guess that it is a sizable amount.
Look at the lag-time on the article. Mr. Kennedy interviewed me on April 23rd. He talked to Jason Smathers the same day, yet his article didn't come out until yesterday, May 3rd, 10 days later. I wonder how many notes from his editor he got asking him to soften things up a bit? I'm sure the article went through a few re-writes before getting the okay to go on line.
The bottom line is that, as a result of CT's coverage, many more people are aware of the fact that something is going on with LU and Ergun Caner than were last week. More questions are being asked, and the heat is getting turned up a bit.
Squirrel
Thanks. I looked there and found the same thing that you found with a 2005 date. I had not tried Dr. Caner's site but was looking at the Liberty site. It is certainly different than the few lines that make up the current biography.
Regarding Wayback Machine backup, I think that their system automatically checks a lot of sites and if changes have been made, records the new information. If they did it only when asked, the old information that was needed would be gone--but this is just a site I use, not one I understand.
Anyhow, I appreciate the information. I always need all the help I can get. :)
Bennett Willis
This bio at the Jacksonville Pastor's Conference looks to be the old bio as far as I can tell.
It says - Ergun Mehmet Caner (B.A., M.A., M.Div., Th.M., Th.D.) is president of the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and Graduate School at the Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Raised as the son of a Muslim leader in Turkey, Caner became a Christian shortly before entering college. Serving under his Chancellor and President, Jerry Falwell Jr., Caner led the Seminary to triple in growth since his installation in 2005. A public speaker and apologist, Caner has debated Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and other religious leaders in thirteen countries and thirty-five states. The author of seventeen books, Caner lives in Lynchburg with his wife Jill and two sons, Braxton and Drake.
Several of Mr. Kahn's videos (but not all--yet) have been blocked due to "terms of use violations." This seems to be Liberty claiming that the material was covered by copyright. I have no idea what fraction of the various videos Mr. Kahn used, but it did not seem to be enough to evade the "fair use" clause of the copyright rules--but who knows.
However, this is really a bad plan. When you block something like this (after all the weeks they have been up) it just creates a lot more publicity and will cause a whole other group of bloggers and commentators to get involved. It also will enlarge the coverage significantly because there is now another angle for the news to work on. Nothing like a freedom of speech adder to the issue.
I think that Mr. Kahn may be posing as someone else and advising Liberty on steps to take. They are turning the volume knob the wrong way.
I suppose we will soon be taking up money for Mr. Kahn to fight the folks who are doing this. LOL
Bennett Willis
The only decent thing for Caner to do now is to resign. The old bios (which he must have authorised) are evidence enough that he has been trading on a reputation he does not deserve. Note that both claim he was an extreme Muslim, one even says he was raised the son of an Islamic leader in Turkey - which is just false. I know that lying is commonly not regarded as a sin in certain circles, but the fact of the matter is that it IS! He has damaged Liberty's reputation (and Liberty have been foolish enough to back him and add to that). Personally I cannot see how he can stay at Liberty in the long term.
Thanks so much, this is very well written by a clear thinker,which is becoming rare in today's world.
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