Was he or wasn’t he a Muslim?

The president of a Baptist seminary is under fire for discrepancies in his biographical information, including his Muslim background.

Baptist blogger Wade Burleson called attention Wednesday (April 14) to the dispute over Ergun Caner’s bio, citing posts in other blogs, especially FBC Jax Watchdog, who has called for Caner to resign as president of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.

On Monday (April 12), Burleson wondered why Southern Baptist leaders were quiet about Caner’s troubles and also wrote about the issue in a post about the need to question leadership.

Caner and his brother, Emir, have close ties to Paige Patterson, former SBC president and now president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Caner previously apologized for calling the head of the International Mission Board a liar.

Jason Smathers says Caner is a “real ex-Muslim” in a post on the SBC Voices blog, but still calls on Caner to explain contradictions in his testimony, speeches and biography.

Matt Svovoda sums up the Caner situation in a separate post on the SBC Voices blog, listing several specific areas of concern.

The Watchdog doesn’t think much of Caner’s contention in February that he “never intentionally misled anyone.” The statement Caner released then can be found on the SBC Today web site, but the link that web site uses to the original statement is broken.

Clearly, a full explanation of the Caner discrepancies is needed.

Top British Catholic rejects Cardinal Bertone’s homosexual/pedophilia claim

Father Marcus Stock, the general secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, in a remarkable departure from church protocol, rebutted Cardinal Tarcisio Berton’s claims, saying Thursday that research shows child sex abuse is “not a question” of sexual orientation.

Skeptical cautions for the faithful

British skeptic David Flint cautions the faithful that some religious explanations are not benign. No one’s faith need be shaken by contemplating the points he raises. For example:

I accept that such words may bring comfort to some people and seem to do no harm. There are other religious “meanings” that certainly do, however. It’s little more than 150 years since Dr Robert Brown declared in the Lancet that women should suffer in childbirth; painless delivery was, he thought, an invention of the devil. It’s only nine years since prominent American evangelicals blamed “the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians” for 9/11 [The Rev. Jerry Falwell apologized]. And it’s only four years since Australia’s leading Muslim cleric blamed rape victims for rape – on the grounds that they wouldn’t have been raped had they stayed home. These stories (Karen Armstrong’s word) try to reconcile us to evil. They matter.