Fox News often comes under fire for… being Fox, but an interview with scholar Reza Aslan has the network in the news for its bizarrely adversarial interview for his new book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.
Reza Aslan is Muslim, and due to this fact, Fox anchor Lauren Green shows immense difficulty in understanding how he was permitted to write and publish a book about Jesus.
Aslan should win some awards for patience as he tries over and over to explain to Green essentially that there is a wide gulf of difference between religious study and religious adherence, but bless her little conservative heart, Green refuses to absorb his repeated answers.
Green asks Aslan:
“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?”
Somehow, he has the inner calm to simply respond with :
“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 … ”
Undeterred, Green continues and manages to abuse “beg the question” in her doubly ignorant reply:
“But it still begs the question why would you be interested in the founder of Christianity?”
Aslan answers:
“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.”
Watch above as Reza Aslan manages not to lose it on Fox News’ Lauren Green, who seems to be unable to reason at a second grade level in the clip.
