I want to clarify, you’re a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?
~Lauren Green to Reza Aslan
And so started the greatest interview Fox has ever aired (online). Ever.
By ‘greatest’ I of course mean ‘most Islamophobic, cringeworthy and base’.
Jesus Christ (no pun intended), this was a doozy. Best news fail since the ‘boom goes the dynamite‘ guy, hands down.
As the quote above indicates, Dr. Aslan wrote a book about Jesus. Dr. Aslan also happens to be Muslim and God forbid a Muslim write a book about Jesus because Muslims are stupid terrorists, amiright or what Fox?! *high five while making sure not to go in for the bro hug because that’s gay and gays are ruining the country (amiright Huckabee?!)*
Did I mention that Doctor Aslan is a doctor?
One of those Ph.D types.
In what you ask?
History of Religions from University of California, Santa Barbara.
He also holds a bachelors in religions from Santa Clara University and a Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard.
And for the hell of it a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Iowa.
Most of those are like community colleges anyways, I mean, UCSB is barely even in the top 10 of public universities in the country.
I’ve never actually heard of Harvard.
Iowa only has one consonant and quite frankly I’m not even sure it really exists.
And, well, Santa Clara sounds Mexican.
So I’m with you intrepid journalist Lauren Green, this guy is wholly unqualified.
What say you charlatan?
‘Well to be clear, I am a scholar of religions with 4 degrees, including 1 in the new testament and fluency in biblical greek who has been studying in the origins of Christianity for 2 decades who also just happens to be a Muslim. So it’s not that I’m just some Muslim writing about Jesus. I am in expert with a Ph.D in the history of religions’.
I dunno Lauren, he did use the word Muslim twice (TWICE!) in his response. You better keep pressing it.
‘But it still begs the question, why would you be interested in the founder of Christianity?’
Hard hitting question Lauren, hard-hitting indeed, like my head against a wall, touché. Let’s see what this mountebank has to say to that razz!
‘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. So, I mean, it would be like asking a Christian why they would write a book about Islam*’
Oh.
Well in that case I guess you better move on Lauren and delve into the finer points of the book with the 9 minutes of interview you have left. Give the audience a feel for what they might expect if they were to give it a read, ya know?
Needless to say poor Lauren, in addition to not understanding how to correctly use the phrase ‘begs the question‘, never actually grasps the idea that Reza’s career is studying and writing about religion objectively and so for 9 grueling minutes she basically rephrases the same question.
Moreover, and my personal favorite thing about the interview, is that it becomes astonishingly clear that she didn’t actually read his book prior to the interview.
At one point she asks why he hasn’t disclosed the fact that he’s Muslim in his TV appearances, to which Reza replies, ‘ma’am, the second page of my book says I’m a Muslim’ and goes on to mention that it’s very frequently mentioned in his television interviews.
That just smashes my mind grapes into fine mind wine. Holy hell. Among the many things she misses in the interview, the irony of persecuting Reza for his religion while they’re supposed to be discussing a book about Jesus, a man persecuted for his religion, is likely the biggest.
Interestingly, the blowhards who populate the airwaves of Fox, the majority of which are Christians with a spattering of Jews (that’s a guess, an educated one, but a guess nonetheless), are never questioned about their often erroneous characterizations of Islam.
But double standards are all the rage these days so how dare a Musulman write about the Christ?! Why don’t you write a tome about falafel (not gay falafel though) al-Qaeda sympathizer, amright Fox?! *high five**gives nearest nerd a wedgie*
Mainstream broadcast journalism in America is already nearly impossible to wade through with most actual news being replaced by a surfeit of opinion shows but rest assured the good folks over at Fox are working hard to usher in the end quicker.
For a pretty excellent interview with Reza, check out The Daily Show which does a fantastic three-parter. As per the norm, those comedians take their job as fake journalists more seriously than actual journalists and thus tend do this weird thing called ‘research’ before an interview. Strange.
*Karen Armstrong would be an example of a Christian who wrote about Muhammed in a historical sense, incidentally there are many more…
