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New star of the Christian Right has story of being an ex-Islamic terrorist exposed as a lie

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ck4829 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-28-10 02:30 PM
Original message
New star of the Christian Right has story of being an ex-Islamic terrorist exposed as a lie
Edited on Wed Apr-28-10 02:33 PM by ck4829
Dr. Ergun Caner, the president of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, has been a rising star on the Religious Right, entertaining audiences at major Religious Right gatherings with his hip, irreverent stories about his upbringing as a radical Muslim and his conversion to Christianity. Just this week, his story was featured on Focus on the Family’s broadcast, “From Jihad to Jesus.”

Turns out, according to a growing chorus of critics – many of them Southern Baptists and other Christians – Caner has apparently been lying for years about his childhood and his life story. It’s hard to even summarize the extent of the deceptions being described by his critics, but they include his claims to have grown up in Turkey and to have personally involved in Islamic Jihad, when court records from his parents’ divorce place him in Columbus, Ohio when he was just a few years old. Check some of the critical websites for voluminous debunking of Caner’s colorful (and apparently fanciful) stories about learning about America through TV broadcasts in Turkey and more. Some charges are even more directly related to his ministry, such as his claims to have debated top Muslim scholars around the world. Caner’s critics say there’s no evidence of those debates.

These are no vague or reckless charges, but carefully documented exposes that draw from Caner’s sermons, speeches, and online videos, and other public records. Liberty doesn’t seem to have responded publicly, but recently posted a revised version of Caner’s bio with disputed claims removed.

Some of Caner’s critics are willing to forgive him, but only if he owns up to his massive deceptions. Meanwhile, Caner and his supporters have been trying to get his critics to shut up. Caner himself has pulled the Religious Right’s favored religious persecution card, reportedly saying in a memo to his Liberty colleagues, “I never thought I would see the day when alleged ‘Christians’ join with Muslims to attack converts.”

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right%E2%80%99s-star-ex-muslim-serial-liar

Here's something that's funny. For a supposed ex-terrorist, it sure wasn't hard for him to get a permit for a concealed carry weapon.

http://www.witnessesuntome.com/caner/caner-ccw-web.pdf
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Dogtown Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-28-10 02:37 PM
Response to Original message
1. K&R n/t
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FiveGoodMen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-28-10 02:40 PM
Response to Original message
2. Heads-up, world. If guys like this really believed in God, they wouldn't dare lie like that!
Followers may really be duped, but Caner and many like him cannot possibly mean what they're saying. They'd be afraid of damnation.
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barbtries Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-28-10 02:46 PM
Response to Reply #2
7. definitely.
one of the ways i've always known that gw's "faith" was bogus was that if he really believed in hell he would know that's where he was headed, and would change his murderous ways.
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liberation Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-29-10 11:21 PM
Response to Reply #7
21. Faith by definition is bogus... nt
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RaleighNCDUer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-28-10 02:51 PM
Response to Reply #2
8. Careful - I said much the same thing about church leaders in general
and got piled on. I firmly believe that most clerics of ANY faith, from Anabaptists to Zoroastrians and anything in between, who rise to the highest ranks CANNOT believe what they profess, and what they expect their underlings to adhere to.
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lolly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-29-10 06:57 PM
Response to Reply #2
17. Not necessarily
Lying is OK if it's "for a good cause."

And lying for Jesus is, of course, THE good cause. If it brings people to The Truth, then it somehow really isn't a lie. Or something.

Lying to teenagers about STDs is another good cause, so that's OK too.

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Mojeoux Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-29-10 07:34 PM
Response to Reply #17
19. That's it. It's OK to tell Lies for Jesus.
Edited on Thu Apr-29-10 07:44 PM by Mojeoux
"Lies for Jesus," it sounds like the hippest new sect around.
Who wouldn't want to tell "Lies for Jesus?"

Ten Lies For Jesus:

Lie #1 Pat Robertson was a great man.:+

Lie #2 A black man grabbed me and wrote "Obama" backwards on my face.:dunce:

Lie #3 That woman put a hex on my duck!:crazy:

Lie #4 Slavery is good because the slaves are brought to Jesus.:puke:

Lie #5 A liberal ate my baby.:evilgrin:

Lie #6 All gays can be straight with Jesus.:wtf:

Lie #7 Jesus appeared on my chicken dumplings and told me to vote republican. :silly:

Lie #8 It's part of Jesus' great plan that 12 year old girls should marry old men.:spank:

Lie #9 Your a sinner so I can rob you blind. x(

Lie #10 Jesus wants me to be rude to Muslim looking people,in His honor. :tinfoilhat:
:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:
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FiveGoodMen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-30-10 12:29 PM
Response to Reply #19
24. Pat Robertson WAS a great man?
You got my hopes up there for a minute! ;)
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Mojeoux Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-30-10 11:13 PM
Response to Reply #24
26. Oh, am I thinking of the late Oral Roberts?
HEEE' YULL!
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Ikonoklast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-28-10 02:40 PM
Response to Original message
3. Scammers getting scammed.
I heard this guy speak on a talk show once, and I thought he was a little full of it, myself.


He even touched on his debates with 'top Muslim clerics' and besting them with undeniable logic.


That's when I thought, "Sure you did, pal."
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Dappleganger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-28-10 02:41 PM
Response to Original message
4. It's ok, I'm sure Glenn Beck will come to his defense. nt
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ingac70 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-28-10 02:43 PM
Response to Original message
5. kick.
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robdogbucky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-28-10 02:43 PM
Response to Original message
6. Reminds me of that other one
Walid somebody, who is always trotted out by the right after some terrorist incident.

Turns out that guy is a big fraud as well.


Just my dos centavos


robdogbucky
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ck4829 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-28-10 03:35 PM
Response to Reply #6
11. Walid Shoebat
The bank he says he bombed can't remember the attack and his own family says he's no terrorist (Of course, he replies by saying the family is lying, he was a big bad terrorist).
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Liberal_in_LA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-28-10 02:52 PM
Response to Original message
9. lying psychopath
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Rex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-28-10 03:00 PM
Response to Original message
10. Wow, those are some big lies! How can anyone be so stupid!?
Oh right, liars never think they will get caught. Amazing how someone can just throw themselves into an absolute fabrication and make it a lifestyle.
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Canuckistanian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-28-10 07:12 PM
Response to Reply #10
12. It's like they believe there's an invisible shield around them
That protects them from showing up on even the most rudimentary Google search.
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ChairmanAgnostic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-29-10 07:51 AM
Response to Original message
13. what a lowlife POS.
But if he confesses to his god, everything's cool, right?
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Solly Mack Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-29-10 11:03 AM
Response to Original message
14. k/r
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eyewall Donating Member (38 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-29-10 01:20 PM
Response to Original message
15. The Christians will continue to believe him
if this goes the usual way no one in his former camp will disavow anything he's said.
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awoke_in_2003 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-30-10 06:12 PM
Response to Reply #15
25. they believe in a mythical being...
if you believe in that, you can believe anything.
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LiberalLovinLug Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 01:25 PM
Response to Reply #15
27. and it will
"...his supporters have been trying to get his critics to shut up"

Supporters? You mean people willing to disregard lies just so they don't ruin their preconceived beliefs about the infallibility of a "man of god"? Sounds a lot like W. Bush supporters.

Reminds me, I wonder how that Hetero retraining is going for the good reverend Haggart?
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Roland99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-29-10 01:47 PM
Response to Original message
16. Not surprising. Brain-dead religious sheeple will believe ANYTHING if it bolsters their beliefs.
idiots.

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Lydia Leftcoast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-29-10 08:01 PM
Response to Reply #16
20. The RIGHT-WING Christians will continue to believe him
The rest of us are trying to create good, respectful relations with the many Muslim immigrants in our community.
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Roland99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-30-10 07:05 AM
Response to Reply #20
22. That's the type I meant. I don't think of anyone that actually follows the teaching of Jesus as.....
a brain-dead sheeple.

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BrklynLiberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-29-10 06:58 PM
Response to Original message
18. The arrogance is so amazing that it never occurs to them that their lies will be found out.
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dballance Donating Member (460 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-30-10 08:44 AM
Response to Original message
23. So much for "Thou shall not bear false witness..."
I guess when it's so profitable it's okay to tell a few fanciful stories.
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SpiralHawk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 01:40 PM
Response to Original message
28. A Republicon faux 'chistian' lying. How typical.
I've got news for the lot of them: Jesus Christ don't like torture, and will personally crucify-for-eterntiy any republicon pretend 'christians' who is evil enuf to support torture.
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