Caner the con man from Liberty

[Photo of Ergun Caner from danutm.files.wordpress.com]

Ergun Michael Caner, or E. Michael Caner, or Butch Caner, or Ergun Mehmet Caner is the president of the faux Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, founded by the faux christianist, Jerry Falwell. He has run into a bit of a snag on his way to the top of the "evangelical" heap.

Caner has "aggressively [...] capitalized on the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, to portray himself as a personal example of the power of Jesus to save even someone raised as a jihadist, which he claimed to be."

How Caner the con man came to be the prez of this so-called institution of "righteousness" is an interesting story. But the thot has plickened and the con man, Caner, is battling numerous "enemies," legions in Satan's army, who are trying to bring him down!

Caner has been called the "Christian Right's Favorite Muslim Convert." The reason for this derives from his claims to know "about the evils of Islam firsthand...[and] his own tale of having been raised in Turkey as the son of a religious leader and trained in a madrassa to wage jihad against Americans."

But...seems like Caner the con man has been conning everyone! According to an article by Peter Montgomery at AlterNet, Caner's "actual life story [my emphasis], as told in some of his books and public appearances and pieced together from public records in recent months by bloggers," is at odds with the "official" version.

"Ergun Caner," writes Montgomery, "was born in 1966 in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Turkish father. His parents settled in Ohio a few years later and were divorced when Caner was 8. Caner lived with his mother and spent time and religious holidays with his father.

"...As a teenager, Caner became a Christian. His father disowned him after his conversion, but his brothers, mother and grandmother also eventually became Christians."

Nothing there about being raised in Turkey and attending a madrassa or waging jihad against Americans.


Liberty University, which has invested a great deal in the Caner's mythical persona, is loathe to admit to any problem with their president. So, typical of the Christian right, Caner's supporters are attacking those who dared uncover Caner's lies. Caner, they say, is being religiously persecuted. And the dean of Liberty's school of religion said Caner has not done anything "theologically inappropriate." He went on to claim that Caner's problem with the truth is neither an ethical nor moral issue."

[Goddamn, these guys are good! Lying, cheating, falsifying records - not ethical or moral issues. Amazing!]

Caner himself has admitted to making "mistakes" and misspeaking, and has apologized for doing so. For many people, though, such a lame comeback just doesn't cut it.

There's so much more information in this article and it's well worth a look because once again it points out the corruption that is endemic and an epidemic in fundamentalist Christianity. Once again, we see the blatant hypocrisy - the lives lived based on the principle that the ends justify the means.

Caner joins a long list that is growing longer daily of master hypocrites claiming to be lovers of Jesus, who dare to stand up in public an exhort others to follow their religious interpretations as the absolute Word of God, only to be exposed as preaching something they neither believe in nor practice.


Read Mr. Montgomery's entire article here.