Just a very brief article in response to Peter Lumpkins, who wrote a fair but perplexing analysis of Liberty University’s investigation of Ergun Caner and the official statement it concluded with. And this will be very brief because that is all it takes.
Lumpkins felt that the official statement had definitively provided a “vindication” of Caner by somehow demonstrating that he did not “make up his life testimony” in any way similar to Mike Warnke’s fictitious background, and therefore people who have been critical of Caner’s testimony “should drink their own tonic and offer public apologies.” I will shoulder this admonishment publically and without any hesitation, immediately upon Lumpkins successfully reconciling the glaring conflict between Caner’s life testimony and the court documents which contradict it. While he is right about our inability to draw conclusions from what is not there, we surely can draw conclusions from what is there.
His life testimony is that he was raised in Turkey as a Muslim terrorist trained in jihad and then moved to the U.S. as a young teenager. Evidences (official court documents) prove that he and his family had actually moved to a quiet suburb of Columbus, Ohio, when Caner was about three years of age. The latter contradicts the former.
If Lumpkins can successfully reconcile Caner’s life testimony, which we have, with the official evidence that contradicts it, which we have, then I will be among the first to step forward and offer a public apology. But as it stands right now, it is impossible for his life testimony and the court documents to both be true. One of them is false, unless Lumpkins is aware of something that reconciles the two without likewise contradicting the ample evidence that is there.
(A nod to Carla Rolfe, who just expressed a similar request.)
This is a little too ironic to not share. Over at pastor Tim Guthrie’s blog, SBC Today, we find a response from him regarding the issue of Liberty University demoting Ergun Caner from the position of dean of LBTS to that of professor as a result of their investigation into the fabricated history Caner had erected about himself. (For those who are not aware, Guthrie had involved himself rather deeply in the controversy surrounding Caner and taking heat over it.) For several months Guthrie has been rightly cautioning people against the easy temptation of gossip and to reserve their judgment until all of the relevant evidence had been collected and sifted through and the Board of Trustees at Liberty University had weighed in on the matter. (We will ignore the dissonance of Guthrie not taking his own advice, nor will we comment about how he has conducted himself in the affair.)
What I want to do here is interact directly with Guthrie’s concluding thoughts, in his article oddly entitled “The Exoneration of Dr. Ergun Caner,” to critically analyze the various statements he made therein.
Read the rest of this entry
As reported by Ray Reed at The News & Advance a few hours ago, Liberty University has confirmed that Ergun Caner’s contract as dean of the seminary, which will expire 30 June 2010, will not be renewed for the next academic year. In an official statement from Liberty University, it was confirmed that Caner “will no longer serve as Dean of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.” Caner has been demoted to the faculty position of professor instead, which he has accepted.
The official statement reads in full:
After a thorough and exhaustive review of Dr. Ergun Caner’s public state-ments, a committee consisting of four members of Liberty University’s Board of Trustees has concluded that Dr. Caner has made factual statements that are self-contradictory. However, the committee found no evidence to sug-gest that Dr. Caner was not a Muslim who converted to Christianity as a teenager, but, instead, found discrepancies related to matters such as dates, names and places of residence. Dr. Caner has cooperated with the board committee and has apologized for the discrepancies and misstatements that led to this review. Dr. Caner’s current contractual term as Dean of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary expires on June, 30, 2010. Dr. Caner will no longer serve as Dean of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. The univer-sity has offered, and Dr. Caner has accepted, an employment contract for the 2010-2011 academic year. Dr. Caner will remain on the faculty of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary as a professor.
Read the rest of this entry
