It’s got plenty of competition but this may just be the single most cringe-worthy, embarrassing interview broadcast on Fox News.
At least in recent memory. Fox News anchor Lauren Green had religious scholar Reza Aslan on her show on Friday to talk about Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, his book that has been stirring up some online controversy recently.
And right off the bat, Green gets to what is important: “You’re a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity” Aslan seemed a little flabbergasted: “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.”
But Green just wouldn’t let it go: “It still begs the question though, why would you be interested in the founder of Christianity” Aslan then starts talking to Green slowly, as if she were a child: “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.”
But Green insisted, accusing him of failing to “disclose” that he’s a Muslim and at one point asking him about a stupefying claim on whether a Muslim writing a book on Jesus isn’t sort of like a Democrat writing a book on former president Ronald Reagan.
Aslan has become the target of anti-muslim rhetoric this past week as he’s made numerous media appearances to publicize his book.
Author and pastor John Dickerson harshly criticized media outlets on FoxNews.com, saying reporters “have failed to mention [Aslan] is a devout Muslim.”
In a piece for WorldNetDaily, Pamela Geller writes that “jihadist operatives like the vicious Reza Aslan are carried on the shoulders of the media and intelligentsia like a football hero at the end of an impossibly fought game.”
Many who share these views have taken to Amazon to give the book one-star reviews. Aslan “is a Muslim and not a historian,” reads one of the one-star reviews.
-Slate
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