Fox News has a well-known reputation for reporting misleading information, misrepresenting facts, and hate mongering; all in the name of what they mistakenly call journalism. But host Lauren Green took it to a new level with Reza Aslan, a PhD, Christian turned Muslim, and the author of?Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.
In a recently aired interview on Fox’s Spirited Debate hosted by Lauren Green, the network has set a new low standard of journalistic “phonyism.”
Friday, renowned religious scholar Reza Aslan was invited to appear, presumably to promote his new book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. Instead, what took place was an embarrassing and cringe worthy display of jaw dropping ignorance done the way that only Fox News can rival.
During the nearly 10 minute interview, Green seemed intent on painting Aslan as some sort of Islamic anti-Christian activist that is trying to spread propaganda through his work. Her introduction and opening question says it all.
GREEN: This is an interesting book. Now I want to clarify, you’re a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?
ASLAN: Well to be clear, I am a scholar of religions with four degrees ? including one in the New Testament, and fluency in biblical Greek, who has been studying the origins of Christianity for two decades ? who also just happens to be a Muslim. So it’s not that I’m just some Muslim writing about Jesus, I am an expert with a Ph.D. in the history of religions?
GREEN:?But it still begs the question why would you be interested in the founder of Christianity?
ASLAN: Because it’s my job as an academic. I am a professor of religion, including the New Testament. That’s what I do for a living, actually.
Ignoring his responses, Green would bring Aslan’s credibility into question another seven times in the interview by bringing his personal faith into question. Aslan did his best to keep his patience through the unfortunate ordeal.
It’s a real shame that Green had no idea who she was interviewing, or perhaps she did. Green cited a number of quotes about the book from a number of anti-Islamic extremists, including Fox’s own John S. Dickerson who started the criticism several days ago with a now debunked article he wrote.
Apparently, he never read the book either.
Reza Aslan’s professional career has been decorated with quite a few achievements. Here is a rundown of some of them:
*holds a?Bachelor of Arts?degree in religions from?Santa Clara University
*holds a?Master of Theological Studies?degree from?Harvard Divinity School
*holds a?Doctor of Philosophy?in the’sociology of religion?from the?University of California
*holds a?Master of Fine Arts?degree from the?University of Iowa’s?Writers’ Workshop
…as well as…
*Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the?University of California
*Research Associate at the?University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy
*member of the?Council on Foreign Relations
*member of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities
*member of the?Pacific Council on International Policy
*served as Legislative Assistant for the?Friends Committee on National Legislation?in Washington D.C.
*elected President of the World Conference of Religions for Peace
*serves on the board of directors of the?Ploughshares Fund
*serves on the board of directors of PEN Center USA
*serves on the national advisory board of the?Levantine Cultural Center
Clearly, Reza Aslan is more than qualified and impartial enough to write a book about any religion or culture.
Aslan has written nearly a dozen books, articles, and essays on the subject of religion. He has also written for The Daily Beast, The Christian Science Monitor, the?Los Angeles Times,?The New York Times,?Slate,?The Boston Globe,?The Washington Post,?The Guardian, the?Chicago Tribune, and?The Nation. He has made numerous appearances as an expert on radio and TV shows including National Public Radio?(NPR),?Public Broadcasting Service (PBS),?The Rachel Maddow Show,?Meet the Press,?The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,?The Colbert Report,?Anderson Cooper 360?,?Hardball,?Nightline,?Real Time with Bill Maher,?Fareed Zakaria GPS, and?ABC Australia’s?Big Ideas.
Aslan gained national attention after the Sept. 11 attacks when he traveled though Iowa giving a number of speaking engagements that have been reported on by USA Today,?U.S. News & World Report, and?The Chronicle of Higher Education.
This latest book is based on the New Testament and is contradictory to Muslim belief.
After the appearance on Fox, Aslan was able to regain some of his public credibility when he was invited as panelist on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. The panelists, including former Governor Eliot Spitzer (D-NY), former State Rep. Robert Ney (R-OH), and the Rev. Jim Wallis, discussed recent racist remarks of Rep Steve King (R-IA) and Fox’s Bill O’Reilly concerning Latino and African-American people.
Edited and published by Jeromie Williams
