Posted on 05/11/2005 12:14:46 AM PDT by freedom44
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 said. Falwell "wants me on national television. He wants guys like me who speak the language."
Caner, 39, 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 a Baptist church.
"That little church loved me to Christianity," Caner said.
His father, Acar, an architect who built a mosque in Columbus, never forgave him. He died a Muslim, though most 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 the 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 to 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 said, 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 other 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," said 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 after the former dean left for 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."
"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 saidOkay, so Rev. Vines was essentially correct.
Why would you get up an leave. Are you a racist against mid-eastern christian?
Innappropriate humor to say the least
Great post!
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