We told you, Liberty. We told you, Dr. Caner. This wasn’t going to be swept up under the rug. This wasn’t going to go away. We knew that if the media got a whiff of this, it was going to be ugly. We begged, we pleaded, we have been praying for months that there would be something other than stonewalling and dismissive barbs coming out of Liberty, and out of Dr. Caner.
What Dr. Caner, his defenders and his employers need to realize is this:
1) There are several groups who are involved here. There is no monolithic “conspiracy”. First, there are the Muslims, and a few Christians who have indiscriminately taken up the allegations of Mr. Kahn and others, and insist that Dr. Caner is a fake ex-muslim – that he never was a Muslim. Second, there are the atheists and secular media who are out to see if a “Christian celebrity” will fall. Thirdly, there are those who are chiefly concerned with the reproach to the Gospel that this situation has become.
2) There are significant differences in method, tactics, and focus between these groups. For instance, I would be in the third group. I am a friend of Alpha and Omega’s ministry. I have participated in many discussions in our chat channel concerning Dr. Caner. Our approach, in general, is to consider these questions prayerfully, carefully, and in a balanced way. Our concern is not to “team up” with Muslims – but to be consistent in our insistence on truth – from those who are on “our side” as much as from the Muslims we converse with and witness to. We reject, and have rejected from the beginning, that Dr. Caner is a “fake ex-muslim”. Our insistence, from the first, has been on consistency and truthfulness. This means, given the evidence that has been uncovered, that we must insist that Dr. Caner WAS a Muslim, if apparently nominal. In fact, many of us have bent over backwards to correct excessive or baseless criticism on any point we encounter. We have taken heat for it, too. The central issues we have with Dr. Caner are that these fabrications are dishonest, being tied to the presentation of the Gospel, and therefore disgracing the Gospel. Shall the name of God be blasphemed because of our silence? May it never be!
3) There is nothing but hurt coming – to the Gospel, to Liberty University, and to Dr. Caner – if Dr. Caner doesn’t fess up, and fess up soon.
4) The “help” being offered to Dr. Caner by several Southern Baptist bloggers is about to be excruciatingly embarrassing – and will also result in a black eye on the Southern Baptist Convention, if not addressed soon. On the other hand, the allegations being made by many Muslims and some Christians are equally unfortunate, in that they show a lack of balance.
Here is a list of questions compiled by the indefatigable researchers who have been looking through the Caner’s statements; modified by a few of my own, and those of others. (Thank you, biglo, Jason, TurretinFan!)
Questions for Dr. Caner
Name
1) What is your full legal name?
2) Have you ever changed your legal name?
3) Why did you previously use “Michael” pre 9/11 and switch to “Mehmet” post 9/11?
4) Why did you state your name was “Giovanni”?
Ethnicity
5) You’ve claimed to be “Persian”, “Anatolian and not Persian.” Which is correct?
6) Was your father Turkish?
7) Is your mother Swedish?
8) Why do you emphasize being 100% Turkish, spanning 21 generations to the exclusion of your Swedish ancestry?
9) Do you believe you were honest and gracious in portraying yourself as 100% Turkish as well as describing “your” people as “Towel Heads”, “Sand Monkeys”, “Camel Jockeys”, and “Sand Niggers”?
10) Aren’t these Arab slurs, not Turkish?
11) Why do you tell offensive jokes in the pulpit?
Residency/Citizenship
12) Where were you born?
13) What citizenships do you or have you held?
14) Where did you live before arriving in the US? Please provide a list.
15) Have you ever lived in a country that could be deemed majority Muslim?
16) What did you mean about arriving in the US after going through Beirut/Cairo?
17) When did your family move to the US?
18) Did you arrive via Brooklyn?
19) Did you live in Brooklyn on arrival in the US?
20) How old were you when you moved to Ohio?
Languages
21) Was Swedish your first language?
22) How fluent are you in the Turkish language?
23) How fluent are you in the Arabic language?
24) Do you still maintain you had a poor grasp of English until you were married?
25) How long have you been speaking English?
26) Where did you learn English?
Father’s background
27) Did your father officially declare your mother as baggage to customs on arrival in the US?
28) When you say your father had multiple wives do you mean your father was a polygamist?
28) What do you mean when you say your father came to build mosques?
29) Do you support your website’s claim that your father was among the ulema?
30) Was your father one of a number who called the men to prayer?
Mother’s Background
31) Is your mother originally from a Lutheran background?
32) Did your mother convert to Islam in Sweden and then reject Islam in America?
33) Did your mother desert Islam for what Emir has called a hippie Universalist lifestyle?
34) Did your mother ever wear any Islamic clothing after she adopted this hippie lifestyle?
Reasons for coming to America
35) Were your family Sunni Muslims or Wahhabi?
36) Do you stand by your statement that you moved to the US in 1978 after Ayatollah Khomeini the Shia Muslim leader encouraged Muslims to do so?
37) Did you come to America to be an Islamic missionary?
38) Which madrassa did you attend?
39) What is the ‘Youth Jihad‘?
40) When and where were you a member of the Youth Jihad?
41) What were the activities of the Youth Jihad?
42) Were you ever trained as a jihadist?
43) Was there any real chance that you would have strapped a bomb to your chest if you hadn’t been converted?
Devotion to Islam
44) Did your mother ever try to prevent you from being brought up in Islam?
45) Did your mother allow you to wear Islamic dress while in her home?
46) Did you wear Islamic clothing to school?
47) Did you use a prayer mat in the high school bathrooms?
48) Why did you say Ramadan was forty days long when in fact it is a lunar month in length?
49) Why did you confuse the Shahada with the opening words of Surat al-Fatiha?
50) Given that both would have been repeated thousands of times, as a devout Muslim, how could you be confused about such a basic thing?
51) How did you attend the Mosque during the school year?
Grandmother’s Background
51) Was your grandmother from a Lutheran background?
52) Was your grandmother’s only language Swedish?
53) Was your grandmother a pluralist?
54) Did your grandmother have a significant involvement in your upbringing?
Ability to Travel Abroad
55) Were you and your brothers barred by a court from traveling abroad during the 1970s?
56) Did you or your brothers ever leave the US to travel abroad in the 1970s and if so where and when did you travel?
American Culture
57) Do you still say all you learned about American culture prior to 1978 was from the Andy Griffith show, the Dukes of Hazzard, and Wrestling?
58) Do you still claim to have watched these in Turkey prior to 1978 despite fact that the Dukes of Hazzard first aired in 1979?
Visit to Stelzer Road Baptist “revival”
59) Did you attend Stelzer Road Baptist Church to sort the Christians out, with your Father’s knowledge as you have said, or did you attend without your father’s knowledge as you have said elsewhere?
60) Did you attend there with your Quran and wearing Muslim clothing?
61) Did you interrupt the service to get saved and the pastor asked you to delay the request until the altar call?
62) Did you go with the young people to an afterglow and witness to the waitress at the place where you ate?
63) Did you eat ham for the first time on the night of your conversion or did your mother as a non-Muslim allow you to eat ham prior to this?
64) Did you really attend the mosque the next day to tell Muslims about your new found faith?
65) Were you beaten for this?
Timing of Conversions
66) Emir and yourself have both claimed Thursday Nov 4, 1982 as your conversion dates so on what date were you saved?
67) Emir and yourself have claimed Emir was converted about a year after you so on what date was Emir saved?
68) Were Emir and Erdem converted at the same time?
69) Were you preaching your first sermon when Emir and Erdem came forward to get saved or was it Pastor Clarence Miller as both Emir and your book Unveiling Islam claims?
Acar’s Reaction to Conversion
70) How do you account for your father rejecting you as his son for 17 years and rejecting Emir for 14 years if Emir was saved a year after you?
71) Did your father cut you out of all the family photographs and did he do the same for your brothers?
Monica’s Reaction
72) Did your mother have any negative reaction to your conversion that resulted in you becoming a “church orphan”?
73) Were you disowned by all of your family?
74) When did your mother became a Christian?
75) Did she continue to wear a hijab until she was baptized?
Qualifications
76) What degrees have you earned?
77) What honorary degrees do you have?
78) Have you claimed that you have a Ph.D?
79) Why, when Unveiling Islam was revised, did you continue to refer to undertaking a Ph.D?
80) You have claimed to engage in more than sixty Muslim debates. Where is the evidence of these debates?
81) Who have you debated? What are their names?
82) When and where did these debates take place?
83) In February, 2010, you said you never debated Shabir Ally. Who did you debate in Nebraska? When? On what topic?
84) You claimed to debate Abdul Saleeb, which means “servant of the cross.” Why did you claim to debate a Christian, and attribute an Islamic argument to him?
85) You have often, in talks, and in print, referred to “Hadith 9:57.” Since any meaningful citation of the hadith literature requires the use of the name of the actual collection (in this case, Sahih al-Bukhari), does this not show a fundamental ignorance of the most basic elements of scholarly inquiry into Islamic studies?
86)Do you claim to be an expert in Islam?
87) Why should these claims about your past, and your apologetic work, not be considered false advertising and fraudulent?
Fatwa
88) Were you ever under a Fatwa that kept you and your family on the road?
89) Who issued this Fatwa?
90) If you were/are under a Fatwa why do you publish your children’s names, their photos and pictures of the outside and inside of your home?
Miscellaneous
91) Is your father-in-law really from “Possum Kill” in North Carolina? You have claimed so and Emir has said that this is really so despite there being no such place officially recognized by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names database?
Censorship
92) Why did you ask Focus on the Family to remove a recording of your testimony?
93) Did you have any part in requesting Living with Joy radio to remove your testimony?
94) Did you ask John Ankerberg to take down the YouTube videos which mocked you?
Legal Documents
95) Do you agree that the documents provided by Jason Smathers are authentic documents?
Truth
96) Do you believe that you merely misspoke or would you now say you lied on the various matters in the questions above?
97) If you agree you lied why did you do so?
98) Dr. White brought up your debate claims in October of ’09. The biographical matters surfaced in February of this year. Why have you refused to answer these matters for this long?
99) Why have you blamed the investigations into your testimony on Christians colluding with Muslims?
100) Do you agree you have profited financially from false claims in your testimony?
101) Do you believe your testimony had any part in you getting your current post?
102) Why did you tweet in disparaging terms about those investigating your words?
103) Why did you quickly remove your statement of February 2010?
104) Do you believe you owe an apology to the Muslim Mohammed Khan?
105) Do you believe you owe an apology to any Christian bloggers?
106) Why did you block everyone who asked you questions about these matters?
Standing before God
107) Do you think you have honored God?
108) Have you repented to God for what you have done?
These questions are provided to emphasize and illustrate the depth and breadth of the problems that has been identified. As Dr. White said on the Thursday, May 14th Dividing Line, we would like nothing better than to see repentance and restoration occur. We are all very, very tired of this whole affair – but consistency is what drives this entire affair, and it has to be seen through. Look, this isn’t some vendetta over a debate that fell through. This isn’t some obsession we have, due to the comments he has made about us. It truly isn’t. If that was so, we would have nothing to do but obsess over critics all day, every day. That just isn’t the case. This has been front and center because Dr. Caner refuses to address the issue meaningfully. He has taken this tack from the beginning, and Liberty’s leadership has played backstop for it. Since this is so, and since the amount of evidence to demonstrate that Dr. Caner’s autobiographical claims has multiplied immensely, this has continued to develop. It’s an integrity issue.
Questions for Dr. Caner’s supporters:
1) Can you provide answers for any of the questions above?
2) Can you point me to a defense of Dr. Caner that has provided an answer for any of the questions above?
3) Can you point me to a blog that has factually answered objections to Dr. Caner?
4) Can you name a blog post defending Dr. Caner that has not resorted to ad hominem argumentation in lieu of factual defense?
5) Can you name me a blog factually defending Dr. Caner that *isn’t* one written by someone who has also expressed concerns about Dr. Caner?
6) Can you specify when and where the accusation has been leveled by any blogger related to A&O that insists that Dr. Caner is a “fake ex-Muslim,” rather than differentiating the position as “fake ex-devout Muslim”?
7) Can you specify when and where any blogger related to A&O has “collaborated” with a Muslim?
8) Is it not true that Debbie Kaufman has disagreed with every blogger related to A&O concerning the “fake-ex-muslim” claim?
9) Is it not true that Debbie Kaufman has responded negatively to any suggestion that she moderate her claims regarding Dr. Caner from other bloggers?
10) Is it not true that we have publicly noted that we disagree with Mr. Kahn’s methodology and the extent of his claims?
11) Is it not true that we have repeatedly denied that this issue has any connection to the debate debacle in 2006?
12) Have you read or heard Dr. White’s explanation of why he has engaged this issue?
13) Is it not true that we have repeatedly insisted that this is an issue of honesty and consistency – and of witness to Muslims?
14) Is it not true that Dr. White’s consistent call to Muslim debate opponents is that they be “lovers of truth”?
15) How then would Dr. White, or any of us, be consistent in turning a blind eye to what we first recognized as discrepancies in claimed debates, and then snowballed into evidence of a pattern of falsehood?
16) Have you read or heard us saying, repeatedly, that we have no desire whatsoever to “aid and abet” Muslims in claiming that Dr. Caner is a “fake ex-Muslim”?
17) Do you understand that in the eyes of Muslims, you are the ones aiding and abetting dishonesty?
18) Have you read or heard that our claim is that Dr. Caner autobiographical falsehoods are a reproach to the Gospel, and that it is on those grounds that we are going this direction?
19) Is it not plain that the response of Dr. Caner and Liberty are what has necessitated the response we have made,and the following media investigation?
20) Do you see that the attempted defenses thus far have not addressed the myriad contradictions in Dr. Caner’s biography?
Responses to objections (non-material)
1) “This is about the debate that fell through in 2006!”
– The answer to this one is easy. a) No, it isn’t. b) How do you know? c) Why do you assume we’re lying, when we’ve said, over and over, that our concern is the Gospel? d) Isn’t it hypocritical to call people liars when your defenses inevitably say that it’s somehow inappropriate to say that someone has lied?
2) “You’re obsessing about Dr. Caner!”
– Hardly. Dr. White commented on that, for himself, on Thursday’s DL. As for myself, I really have better things to do. Unfortunately, the situation calls for Dr. Caner’s brothers in Christ to call him to repentance. Therefore, we will. Let me know how many Ergun Caner posts you see on this blog. It’s been up for a while.
3) “You’re teaming up with Muslims!”
– Hardly. I have defended him from baseless accusations from Christians, yes. I have also criticized him wherever necessary, as well. Teaming up? No. I’ve never directly contacted him, and don’t plan to.
4) “You’re ignoring the Biblical pattern of calling men to repentance!”
– Which one? The one where you contact them privately first, bring a few with you next, then lay it before the whole church? a) We all did contact him privately. He blocked us. b) More people contacted him. He blocked them too. c) It’s now before the whole church. d) Isn’t that for the local church, anyway? Last I checked, none of us are members of Thomas Road.
5) “This is about Reformed theology!”
– Uh, no. This would have happened eventually. It is true, in a way. If he hadn’t shot his mouth off dozens of times about Reformed theology, he sure never would have been on our radar. Since he did, he got there – and his claims, therefore, got there. Once he got on that radar, and we saw his debate claims, it snowballed. So yes, in a way you can blame Reformed theology. In particular, his statements about it.
6) “You’re teaming up with anti-CR people!”
– Honestly? I couldn’t care less about it, and didn’t even know what it was until all of the flame wars from the CR side began. So no, don’t think that has anything do with… anyone from our side. We’re a mix of Reformed Baptists, Calvinistic SBCers, and Presbyterians. Why would we care about CR as a group?
7) “You just want Ergun Caner taken down!”
– Not at all. I just want him to admit his sin, repent and begin restoration.
8) “You just assume he’s guilty!”
– Nonsense. There is a massive, massive amount of information that has led to this conclusion. Waving it away doesn’t change that fact. There is a reason for our position, and it is rooted in Dr. Caner’s own words and inconsistencies therein.
9) “You’re just an attack blogger!”
– Once again – nonsense. Read my blog, and it’s quite obvious I’m not.
10) “You’re a sinner too!”
– Obviously. If I’m in open, repeated, unrepentant sin – please point it out and call me to repentance.
11) “You want to bring anyone down who isn’t Reformed!”
– No, or I’d never, ever do anything else.
12) “The issue was originally that he was a fake-ex-muslim! You’re changing the story!”
– Please quote where I _ever_ said that was the issue. Thanks. It’s not. It’s that Dr. Caner has been shown to be dishonest in a multitude of areas. That dishonesty has consequences, which he is now facing. Whether he sorrows over that sin and repents accordingly is yet to be seen.
Rules for commenting on this post:
I am solely interested in responses to the questions above. Limit your comments to those questions, or your comments will be deleted as irrelevant. Interaction with said responses are permissible, but should be kept to factual matters. I will be very strict on enforcing my policies on this post – and violations will be dealt with as quickly and as justly as possible. If you have questions or concerns you’d like to raise, my email is linked on the top left, as is my commenting policy.
