Did you catch the "interview" from Fox News by Lauren Green, during which she grills "Zealot" author Reza Aslan on why he, a Muslim, would even write a book about Jesus? If not, here you go:

 

 

A couple of weeks ago, my friend (and frequent EoE commenter) Aja sent me this link to an NPR interview with Aslan. In the piece, it doesn't mention his reconversion to Islam, instead readers are given this quote:

 

 "I wouldn't call myself a Christian because I do not believe that Jesus is God, nor do I believe that he ever thought that he was God, or that he ever said that he was God. But I am a follower of Jesus, and I think that sometimes, unfortunately — I think even Christians would recognize this and admit it — those two things aren't always the same, being a Christian and being a follower of Jesus."

 

 

It led me to believe he fell into a "spiritual but not religious quasi-follower of Christ" category. A couple of days later, while reading another blog, I saw that he was a Muslim. My guess- and it's only a guess here, because Lord knows what was going through Lauren Green's head- is perhaps Green was alluding to this story when she accused Aslan of not being forthcoming about his religious background. The thing is, that's a whole lot of assuming right there. Aslan didn't write that NPR post, some staff member did. Nor did he edit the interview... so who knows if he mentioned his current religious affiliation or not. He might've and an editor at NPR could've cut that out.

 

Anyway, I do find the Fox News interview super embarassing. Green came off argumentative, confrontational and just plain rude. I was left wondering why she did the interview in the first place. The audience didn't learn much about Aslan beyond a plethra of criticisms and dismissals. Most troubling, is this notion that only people within the in-group can validly write about or discuss a subject. Why can't a Democrat credibly write about Reagan?

 

If you're interested in "Zealot", click here for a preview.