Ergun Caner

Ergun Michael Caner (born November 3, 1966) is a Swedish-American academic, author, and Baptist minister, who became well known for his book, co-authored with his brother, on Islam and his claims that he was a devout Muslim trained as a terrorist. He emigrated to the United States at age four and claimed to have converted to Protestantism in the early 1980s. President of Brewton-Parker College in Mount Vernon, Georgia. He previously served as the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Arlington Baptist College and was the former dean of the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and Graduate School of Liberty University. He was removed from this position after it became clear to Liberty University faculty and the Liberty University Board that he misrepresented his background.

On January 20, 2015, Brewton-Parker College announced that Dr. Caner was stepping down due to the inability to properly grieve for his deceased son, Braxton, who had committed suicide on July 29, 2014. He has authored and co-authored several books, many of which discuss Islam and Christianity. His book, Unveiling Islam, co-authored with his brother Emir, sold more than 200,000 copies and has been translated into six languages. It also received a 2003 Gold Medallion Book award by the Evangelical Christian Publisher's Association.

Early life Caner was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1966 to Acar, a Turkish national, and Monica, a Swede. He was the oldest of three brothers. Caner immigrated to the United States in 1969 with his parents, moving to Ohio. His parents divorced on April 14, 1978, but his father, through court order, Caner's mother Monica successfully fought against the provision in the divorce decree that the children be raised Muslim by making an appeal to the court on February 6, 1979. The court allowed Monica's petition that religious instruction be "according to the desires of each parent" while in their custody. Caner continues to contradict these facts in many of his lecture videos by providing conflicting statements.

Caner was the first of his siblings to profess Christianity, doing so at age 15 after accepting a friend's invitation to a revival meeting at a local Baptist church. Caner's father disowned all three sons following their conversions, and he did not see them again until 1999, when a stepsister they had never met called to tell them he was dying with cancer. After graduation, he and Emir enrolled at Criswell College in Dallas, Texas, where they first met Criswell president Paige Patterson, who they later described as a surrogate father. Ergun Caner became Patterson's assistant while pursuing a Master of Arts in History. In late 1991, Patterson left Criswell under pressure from the school's board of trustees and became president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association awarded it the Gold Medallion for a missions/evangelism book in 2003.

A review in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram described Unveiling Islam as "a sketch of religious history, theology and life" and "a handy, brief guide to what is often an unknown world". The reviewer further noted that the book was "strongly evangelistic" and "emphasizes the faith's militant aspect".

In June 2002, the Caners received national attention for Unveiling Islam after Jerry Vines referred to the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a "demon-possessed pedophile", citing the book as evidence, in a sermon at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis, Missouri. In the aftermath of these remarks, Muslim leaders labeled Caner and his brother as kafirs or "infidels". A review in Baptist History and Heritage magazine said the book "does achieve its goal in giving a 'sketch' of each president. Unfortunately, the authors provide no analysis, context, or summary; in short, they offer no theme." Caner's leadership at Liberty Seminary and with the faculty he built saw the enrollment triple in a relatively short period of time. In conjunction with Child Evangelism Fellowship, Caner led the creation of a Master of Arts degree in Children's Ministry.

Caner was initially listed as signatory to the 2008 Evangelical Manifesto prepared by a group of religious leaders in an attempt to define evangelical beliefs and de-politicize the evangelical movement. Caner said he was asked to read the document but never consented to endorse it. On January 22, 2015 it was reported Caner would soon resign his presidency of Brewton-Parker. Caner explained the July, 2014 suicide of his 15 year-old son Braxton was responsible for his decision: "Brewton-Parker College cannot become a healthy, growing and stable college under the leadership of a man who is broken... and I am admitting to you that I am broken. I can’t get over his death, and I am not sure I want to. I do know that I cannot muster the fight needed to be the leader of our college. My family and my heart need healing, and you deserve better." Other observers have claimed that Caner's sudden resignation from Brewton-Parker preceded his certain termination for having made several racially disparaging remarks, comments that many of the students and faculty at Brewton-Parker had recently become aware of, and many had been publicly protesting.

Controversy In a 2009 San Francisco Examiner article, Davi Barker highlighted errors Caner had made in public statements about Islam, including mispronouncing the word muadhin, misquoting the Shahada, and incorrectly stating that the Muslim holy month of Ramadan lasted 40 days when it only lasts either 29 or 30 days.

In 2010, Christian and Muslim bloggers accused Caner of making up and lying about his life story by citing details that were incongruent with his regularly stated, printed, and often repeated story. The critics particularly challenged Caner's claims to have grown up in Turkey, when he actually grew up in Ohio; being raised in a devout Muslim home, rather than a nominal one; having been trained as an Islamic jihadist; having debated dozens of Muslims, although they say there is no evidence of such.

On May 10, 2010, Liberty University announced that it would launch a formal inquiry into allegations of discrepancies in the claimed background of Caner, the Dean and President of the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and Graduate School. Caner said, "I am thrilled that Liberty University is forming this committee, and I look forward to this entire process coming to a close." The committee reported "discrepancies related to the matters such as dates, names and places of residence" in Caner's public statements, although they found no evidence to contradict the idea that he was a Muslim who converted to Christianity as a teenager. The committee also reported that Caner had cooperated with its investigation and apologized for the identified discrepancies. At the meeting, Caner claimed that he and his brother had seen the controversy coming for years. The bloggers were simply "frustrated people in their basements", he said, adding that it would take more than edited videos to take him down.

Caner left LU in June 2011 to become Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs for the Arlington Baptist College. The President of Arlington Baptist College, Dr. Dan Moody, stated that Caner's controversy was in the past and the new Vice President had his full confidence. Caner filed a lawsuit on June 18, 2013, in the U.S. district court in North Texas claiming copyright infringement for reproducing, uploading and maintaining his videos without permission. The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice on April 17, 2014. The judge ruled the videos had been posted in their entirety and were not edited as Caner had earlier claimed. Two courts ruled the lawsuits were frivolous and ordered Caner to pay a combined total of $59,183.39 in legal fees. Following the court order, YouTube made the videos available again.

Books Caner, Ergun, and Emir Fethi Caner. Unveiling Islam: An Insider's Look at Muslim Life and Beliefs. Updated and Expanded ed. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2009. Caner, Emir Fethi, and Ergun Mehmet Caner. More Than a Prophet: an Insider's Response to Muslim Beliefs About Jesus and Christianity. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2003. Caner Emir, and Ergun Caner. The Sacred Trust: Sketches of the Southern Baptist Convention Presidents. Nashville, Tenn.: B&H Academic, 2003. Caner, Ergun Mehmet, and Emir Fethi Caner, eds. The Sacred Desk: Sermons of the Southern Baptist Convention Presidents. Nashville, Tenn.: B&H Publishing Group, 2004. Caner, Ergun Mehmet, ed. Voices Behind the Veil: the World of Islam through the Eyes of Women. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications, 2004. Caner, Ergun Mehmet, and Emir Fethi Caner. Christian Jihad: Two Former Muslims Look at the Crusades and Killing in the Name of Christ. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications, 2004. Brunson, Mac & Caner, Ergun. Why Churches Die: Diagnosing Lethal Poisons in the Body of Christ. Nashville: B&H Books, 2005. Hoffman, Paul K., and Norman L. Geisler, eds. Why I Am a Christian: Leading Thinkers Explain Why They Believe. Rev. and expanded ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2006. Cabal, Ted, ed. The Apologetics Study Bible: Understand Why You Believe. Nashville, Tennessee: Holman Bible Publishers, 2007. Pollock, Forrest. The Last Sermon I Would Preach If Jesus Were Coming Tomorrow. Encouraging Word, 2007. Hindson, Ed, and Caner, Ergun, general editors. The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics. Eugene, Or.: Harvest House Publishers, 2008. Falwell, Jonathan, general editor. InnovateChurch. Nashville, Tenn.: B&H Books, 2008. Caner, Ergun Mehmet. Holier Than Thou: When Faith Becomes Toxic. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2009. Allen, David L., and Steve W Lemke, eds. The Return of Christ: A Premillennial Perspective. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2011.