Liberty University to investigate Ergun Caner's Muslim background claims

LYNCHBURG - Liberty University will investigate whether Ergun Caner, president of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, actually has all of the Muslim background that he has described in some of his speaking engagements around the country.

Liberty University described Caner as a converted Sunni Muslim and immigrant from Turkey when it named him head of the seminary in 2005, according to News & Advance files.

For several weeks, bloggers who claim either Baptist or Muslim connections have expressed doubts about Caner’s testimony.

On Monday, Liberty University issued this statement:

“Liberty University does not evaluate personnel based upon blogs.

“However, in light of the fact that mainstream media have recently raised questions, the provost of Liberty University is appointing a committee to look into these matters.”

The committee, to be headed by longtime LU administrator Ron Godwin, is expected to issue a decision on its findings by June 30, said university spokesman Johnnie Moore.

Moore said the statement was sent to ChristianityToday.com and the Nashville Tennessean newspaper, in addition to The News & Advance.

Caner could not be reached for comment Monday.

Jerry Falwell Jr., chancellor of Liberty University, also made his first public comment regarding Caner on Monday.

“In light of the fact that several newspapers have raised questions, we felt it necessary to initiate a formal inquiry,” Falwell said in a statement posted on the university website.

The controversy focuses on whether Caner was raised in Turkey and in the Muslim faith until age 17, as he has been recorded as saying in remarks to large church congregations in Florida and Texas in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York.

Divorce documents cited by at least one blog, and obtained from a Columbus, Ohio courthouse by The News & Advance, indicate Caner was born in Sweden and moved with his father and mother to the United States about four years later.

Caner’s parents separated a few years after they moved to Ohio.

His father, by mostly undisputed accounts, was a Muslim. However, courts awarded custody of the three Caner children to their mother.

Ergun Caner became a Christian in his late teens, according to most accounts.

Christianity Today last week became the first mainstream news outlet to report the controversy about Caner’s Muslim background.

In that report, the magazine quoted Elmer Towns, dean of LU’s School of Religion, as saying the university’s board of directors declined to take public action against Caner after bloggers raised doubts about the seminary president’s descriptions of his childhood as a Muslim.

A call to Towns was returned Monday by Moore, who said the investigative committee was being formed because the mainstream media was starting to ask questions.

“The provost is going to put together a committee of people, internal and external,” Moore said. “They are going to look at all of the accusations, one by one, and make a determination of the legitimacy of the accusations.

“The deadline is June 30,” for the committee’s report, Moore said. “That is the end of the fiscal year, and that just seemed like a good target.”

Godwin is described on the university website as LU’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. Because Boyd Rist, the university provost, is absent for health reasons, Godwin is filling the provost role, Moore said.

Moore also provided more details about the LU board’s look at the controversy during its annual meeting in March.

“The board at Liberty had a passing discussion (about the Caner controversy) during its annual board meeting; it wasn’t an inquiry or anything like that,” Moore said. He added that the discussion occurred within the board’s seminary subcommittee and not before the full board.

“Before the Christianity Today article, it was just a few blog accusations,” Moore said. “This will be a formal investigation.”