Caner says he never endorsed the recently released document “An Evangelical Manifesto.”
The “Manifesto,” which was released last week, calls for more civil discourse among evangelicals and non-believers. It also takes some modern-day Christian leaders to task for their efforts in the political arena. The document carried the names of many prominent Christian leaders — among them, Dr. Ergun Caner, president of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary; and the late Dr. Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority.
Dave Eppling, Caner’s chief of staff, told reporters that Dr. Caner was consulted about the document but never gave an endorsement.
“How [the endorsement] it occurred, we really don’t know,” Eppling admits. “At best case, it was an oversight on the folks who drafted the Manifesto; at worst case they were trying to get his name to garner attention to the Manifesto — and scripture warns us about attributing motive, so I cannot say one way or the other. But Dr. Caner is very, very disappointed that his name was attached to this.”
According to Eppling, one of the specific things that bothered Caner was the insinuation that elements of the evangelical movement espoused years ago by Dr. Jerry Falwell were something to be moved away from.
“Liberty Baptist Seminary is all about engaging people in the public square with servant evangelism and a frank apologetic so that we can confront folks with the gospel and love them with the gospel,” Eppling explains. “So again, Dr. Caner was very disappointed about the release of that Manisfesto with his name on it, and wished it had been otherwise.”
In a written statement on the Seminary’s website, Dr. Caner explains that he voiced reservations about language in a rough draft of the Manifesto that he was invited to read — language he felt was “too dismissive and too harsh.” But he says was “saddened” to read that language was not changed for the final version.
“[R]eading the document sounds like an extended apology, and I do not apologize for the stance we have taken for decades: evangelicals are unapologetically and unabashedly pro-life, pro-marriage, and pro-prayer,” Caner writes. And when it comes to standing for truth and righteousness in the political realm, he states: “Popularity is not the goal of an evangelical; converted souls in heaven are the ultimate goal. You do not change a culture by surrender. This is precisely what the [Manifesto] seems to do.”
Jerry Falwell, Jr., told reporters that his dad would never endorse a document that appears to undercut political activism.