Roiling religious waters (Ex-Muslim teaching theology for the Rev. Jerry Falwell)

Los Angeles Daily News ^ | 4/30/05 | Bob Lowry/AP

[wagglebee]

LYNCHBURG, Va. - The new dean of the theological seminary at the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University is a former Sunni Muslim known among students for pop culture references that lighten lectures, and for cracking one-liners as easily as he quotes a Bible verse.

But, among major Muslim and Arab-American groups, Ergun Mehmet Caner is viewed as insensitive and hostile - someone who has damaged relations between Christianity and Islam in this country.

"There is a new generation of new evangelists who are provocative, cultural and yet conservative - we will sit in the back of the bus no more," Caner says. Falwell "wants me on national television. He wants guys like me who speak the language."

Now 39, Caner emigrated with his family from Turkey to Ohio when he was a teenager and converted to Christianity in 1982 after a persistent friend kept taking him to the Stelzer Road Baptist Church in Columbus.

"That little church loved me to Christianity," Caner says.

His father, Acar, an architect who built a mosque in Columbus, never forgave him. He died a Muslim, though most of the rest of Caner's family later converted to Christianity, including his brother, Emir.

The siblings both studied at Criswell College in Dallas and did their postgraduate work at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina.

They also wound up at the center of a nasty religious spat in 2002 over their book "Unveiling Islam." While the brothers said at the time that they viewed the text as an act of love - a way of trying to reach out to Muslims and bring them into Christianity's fold - their critique of Islam brought condemnations from a variety of groups.

The Caners claimed, among other things, that "war is not a sidebar of history for Islam. It is the main vehicle for religious expansion." Also, in their view, the prophet Muhammad stacks up unfavorably in comparison with Jesus Christ as a religious leader.

But the incident that brought the greatest attention occurred when a former Southern Baptist Convention president, the Rev. Jerry Vines, told a meeting of Baptist pastors that "Islam was founded by Muhammad, a demon-possessed pedophile who had 12 wives - and his last one was a 9-year-old girl." When confronted about the statement, Vines said he was citing Islamic texts as quoted by the Caners.

Ergun Caner says he and his brother were misquoted.

"What I did say was that Muhammad, at age 50, did marry a 6-year-old and the marriage was consummated when she was 9 years old," Caner says, adding that "Muslims are not hateful people."

Muslim scholars, meanwhile, accused the Caners and others of putting a cynical twist on events: Their take was that Muhammad's marriage to the child Aisha was for her education in Islam and to reinforce political allegiances.

Now Caner's appointment to head Liberty's 2,000-student seminary - he'll take over the job in July - has struck a nerve with some U.S. Muslim and Arab groups, who say his frequent speeches around the country could damage fragile relations between Muslims and Americans.

"He's been around a long time and has a very strong conservative view that is more hostile to Islam than understanding of it," says Ray Hanania of Chicago, managing editor of TheArabStreet.com. "If Falwell wanted to send a strong message to Muslims, he might have done it by reaching out to mainstream Muslims, rather than extremists."

But Boyd Rist, Liberty's vice president for academic affairs, said Caner was the clear choice for the job after the former dean left for the presidency of another school.

And many students enjoy the wisecracking, sometimes politically incorrect style of Caner, who joked that "the downside of being a dean is that I'd rather drop off my son at (Michael Jackson's) Neverland Ranch than go to all those meetings."

"In a given lecture, I'll talk about 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,' C.S. Lewis, Plato's Cave and some lyrics by 50 Cent," says Caner, who sports a shaven head and goatee.

Teaching in a packed auditorium of 450 students recently, Caner asked which popular actors they would marry "if she or he was a Christian." A couple of women shouted Vin Diesel and Brad Pitt, while the guys retorted with Cameron Diaz and Halle Berry.

"In your dreams," Caner said with a laugh. His response brought howls, hoots and cheers from the classroom.

"Most college students lose attention every seven minutes, and, with that, it's important to have that humor to bring us back in and teach us more," said Travis Bush, a junior from Rocky Mount, N.C., in Caner's class. "He's the best professor here. With the humor, it keeps us interested."

Says Caner: "The point is, I'll use anything at my disposal. I'm not hiding from culture, and I don't boycott culture. ... We're not satisfied with having representatives who are ignorant, backwoods people. We need national spokesmen who are intelligent, reasonable, humorous and provocative."

[tutstar]

I've heard him preach several times. He is genuine and not what yall hope he is.

http://www.johnankerberg.com/TV/ankjasrm-islam-wmv.html

[eleni121]

I hear you...There are literally thousands of former Muslims who have been brave enough to proclaim Christian. I know many of them and I am humbled, especially when they face danger every day of their lives.

[tutstar]

Dr. Vines announced his retirement tonight.

http://www.jacksonville.com/(pc title says resigned--he's retiring)

I'd be more than tickled for Ergun to be our pastor, but doubt that will happen since he's newly appointed at Liberty.

[tutstar]

ping

[sheik yerbouty]

That about sums it up..

[Binghamton_native]

With all due respect, if you're not personally familiar with Ergun Caner and what he has done since his conversion to Christianity, you don't know what you're talking about. I'm wondering, what test would a Muslim convert to Christianity have to pass so that you'd be satisfied? What if the early Church had never accepted the conversion of the Apostle Paul?

[Binghamton_native]

With all due respect, if you're not personally familiar with Ergun Caner and what he has done since his conversion to Christianity, you don't know what you're talking about. I'm wondering, what test would a Muslim convert to Christianity have to pass so that you'd be satisfied? What if the early Church had never accepted the conversion of the Apostle Paul?