A fabricated jihadist backstory made Caner a top evangelical speaker until bloggers exposed him

Evidence

The more Caner spoke, the more he embellished his story, spinning yarns of growing up in Turkey and being trained as a jihadist intent on destroying Christian civilization. Eventually Caner’s tales started to catch up with him. Muslim and Christian bloggers began to dispute many of his claims. He hadn’t grown up in Turkey, but rather had been born in Sweden and at age three moved to Ohio. After his parents’ divorce he was raised by his Swedish Lutheran mother. He’d never been involved in Islamic jihad, he hadn’t bravely debated dozens of Muslims, and his thick Middle Eastern accent was a sham. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 501

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth tracing: how much did the audience’s appetite for a ‘jihadist-turned-Christian’ narrative drive the fabrication, versus individual fraud?