How to deal with hostility and ignorance
Fox News laid a trap for Reza Aslan, author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. But he came prepared, armored in erudition (“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.”) and calm, and prepared to point out unreason (“I think the fundamental problem here is that you’re assuming that I have some type of faith-based bias in this work that I write.”). He sidestepped the pit, allowing the interviewer to fall deeper and deeper into it.
Upon seeing this clip, we ran out and bought Zealot at National Bookstore. (The hardcover is Php985.) The history of religion is always a fascinating subject.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 31st, 2013 at 14:25
Fascinating indeed. I have known Aslan (what a name, given the context) since I saw this debate he did a few years back with Sam Harris regarding faith vs. unbelief (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5og-hyD3A7A)
The problem is the subject matter of his book probably didn’t even exist anyway. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwUZOZN-9dc)
In any case, he probably is thanking Allah for Fox because he just hit #1 on Amazon. (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/07/reza-aslan-tk/67743/)
Aslan, 2
Fox, 0
July 31st, 2013 at 14:35
Doctor: If your name is Aslan, you have to write about Christianity.
July 31st, 2013 at 15:22
pwede pala sa fox news si karen davila
July 31st, 2013 at 15:29
Hehe. But the “other Aslan” has already written a biography on Christianity’s prophet (I’d argue St. Paul was the religion’s true founder) so a book on Muhammad/Islam should be the counterbalance. Violent religions fascinate me more. What would be a good title? The Merchant of Arabia? The Reluctant Monotheistic Polyamorist of Mecca? The Ultimate Jihadist 1.0?
Though, I have a soft spot for Zoroastrianism. Its God’s name Ahura Mazda just sounds so badass, don’t you think?
July 31st, 2013 at 15:32
When I first saw this earlier this week as it went viral across social media, I was livid at Lauren Green for being (1) so obviously Islamaphobic, and (2) so obviously stupid. She had no idea the hole she was digging for herself. Then I remembered this was FOX, and she and her producers probably thought she did a great job.
The missed opportunity here is that Lauren should have paraded her credentials out like Reza did. After all, how could this scholar with a Ph.D. and four degrees ever hope to match wits with a former Miss Minnesota who later won third runner-up in Miss America?
Oh, and yes, Reza’s book sales skyrocketed the next day and beat out JK Rowling for the top spot on Amazon. I will likely buy it as well.
Meanwhile, as expected, Fox News rose to defend Green’s stupidity and completely missed the point of the entire brouhaha.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/07/30/liberal-media-miss-reality-in-jabs-at-lauren-green-interview-with-zealot-author/
They insist that it was valid to ask why a Muslim would write a book on Christianity, failing to remember this is not a religious work but a secular one seeking to discuss the historical Jesus separate from the divine beliefs.
How ironic for them to say the “liberals” choose to see what they want to see when it is Fox that refuses to acknowledge the basic logic.
Jesus as a historical figure has fascinated Christians and non-Christians alike for centuries now. It is also Christian belief that Jesus was both man and God. It is inevitable that his human side will always be up for discussion, and let’s be honest: who better to discuss the historical Jesus, the man, without biases, than a non-Christian?
July 31st, 2013 at 15:37
Speaking of violence, Paul would be a great subject for a biography, especially if we’re talking about religion and its dissemination. He seems to be Muhammad’s more proper counterpart. Eh, but these two religions are overexposed.
Zoroaster, it is.
July 31st, 2013 at 18:34
Dummy me, I just realized I misread your statement, Jessica. LOL. Yes indeed, Reza Aslan was destined to write about the man who fulfilled the ancient prophecies. It’s like a 3-way mirror.
July 31st, 2013 at 21:34
now i want to buy the book too and read that hotly “debated” page 2. Fox is GOOD.
August 1st, 2013 at 00:06
halvert: You just made food shoot out of our nose!
August 1st, 2013 at 07:46
Allancarreon, you just wasted several paragraphs criticizing Fox. I shouldn’t have to spell this out because saying that name should be enough said but I don’t think this is as common knowledge outside of the US as it is here. It’s Fox, owned by Rupert Murdoch who has a clear agenda of promoting conservatism, enclave of the extreme right evangelicals with talking heads who have no college degrees (or barely got a degree after enrolling in 5 below-average colleges like dinosaurs-are-6-thousand-years-old Sarah Palin who almost became vice president) and home of the paranoid nuts like Glenn Beck (mediocre college drop out), Sean Hannity (college drop out) and Bill O’Reilly. They might as well call themselves the 700 Club disguised as a “news network.” It’s not real impartial journalism or just plain journalism, cummon. It’s like criticizing a person with Down Syndrome for having an IQ of 70.
All they’re really concerned about is ratings even if it means being consciously wrong (a former producer admitted to this) like hiring the infamous Dick Morris who boldly proclaimed Mitt Romney was gonna beat Obama with a landslide even when polls were clearly showing otherwise just so their base wouldn’t lose hope and stay home and not vote at all. Morris now eats crow for a living (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-98rao6UKU). They’ve been kicking CNN’s ass with ratings and know that fear-mongering and appealing to their bible-thumping, gun-toting, predominantly older white hillbilly (whether they live in Beverly Hills or Alabama), redneck fan base will only serve to solidify this win. And that’s all they really care about. (http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/05/07/Ratings-Fox-news-Widens-Lead-CNN-Collapses)
August 1st, 2013 at 09:14
Also, I don’t think Islamophobia per se should be looked down upon as a negative or be held up as a valid medical diagnosis (e.g. agoraphobia) except of course if it is a a genuine irrational phobia (there must be somebody out there who’s genuinely scared of people completely hidden in black cloth singing Arabic music) precisely because there is a rational basis for fearing Islam, especially in this new world we’re living in. (Of course Fox shouldn’t count as it promotes an ideology that is just as irrational and dangerous.)
Hitch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1tyrWCKTKA
August 1st, 2013 at 13:06
I wonder if the context of this book would have some similarity to the Jesus that was portrayed in Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ.
August 1st, 2013 at 15:10
I didn’t know Jesus was the founder of Christianity.
August 1st, 2013 at 23:47
volume-addict: Not really. Scorsese’s movie based on the Kazantzakis novel goes into the humanity of Jesus. Aslan points out that there is not enough information about Jesus to tell us what he was like as a person, all the gospels having been written decades after his death by evangelists who had an interest in managing the origin story. What Aslan does is to place Jesus of Nazareth in his historical context, since we do know a lot about the Jewish revolts against the Roman Empire. At the time, anyone who claimed to be the messiah was declaring open warfare against Rome. Zeal was a biblical duty. A zealot was one who refused to serve any foreign master, who rejected all human masters, especially the priests of the Temple who bought their positions from Rome. After Rome put down the rebellions and annihilated everyone in Jerusalem, it was in the best interest of the Christ’s followers to distance themselves from the revolutionary/zealot.
It’s a compelling read, and it just zips along.
August 1st, 2013 at 23:47
Askaniclan: We were attempting a C.S. Lewis joke. Not many opportunities for those.
August 1st, 2013 at 23:49
Dr. Feelgood: Hrmp, Saul of Tarsus.
August 1st, 2013 at 23:58
Dr. Feelgood, YOU just wasted several paragraphs criticizing Fox hahahaha.
We hope Wendi Deng cleans Murdoch out in the divorce.
August 2nd, 2013 at 13:12
Jessica, I did just contradict myself but it was necessary. :P
I was gonna make the lame joke that Saul regained his soul on the road to Damascus and became Paul but Google told me that was a misconception. Paulus was just one of the Latinized versions of his name. It didn’t have to do with the Lord preferring another name for him.
August 3rd, 2013 at 13:06
Many Fox people love to create controversies out of rubbish. Little wonder why they are favorite of satire and comedians.
August 3rd, 2013 at 17:32
“Dr. Feelgood, YOU just wasted several paragraphs criticizing Fox hahahaha.”
Haha true.
Dr. Feelgood: I am very much aware of Fox’s politics even if it IS not well-known outside the US. Their anti-liberalism is the stuff of legend. They would probably broadcast that the earth is flat if they thought they could get away with it.
Also, I use the term “Islamophobia” (which is a common term these days anyway) in the same vein as “homophobia,” neither of which are up for any medical diagnosis (though many such phobes are sick people in my opinion).
Also: “…because there is a rational basis for fearing Islam, especially in this new world we’re living in. ”
This is up for debate. There is no more a rational basis for fearing Islam than there is a rational basis for fearing Christians. And believe it or not, where Islamophobia is widespread in the West, Christianophobia is widespread in the Middle East and other parts of the world.
The difference is that atrocities by Islamic extremists get more media mileage since Western media is more global, while atrocities by Christian extremists don’t get publicised as much.
But make no mistake about it: there is as much hatred of Christians in the Middle East as there is hatred of Muslims in the West.
And neither hatred has rational basis, for both are borne of the act of a radical few while the rest of the religious adherents are vilified for something they neither do nor support.
I have several Muslim friends, even if I’m Christian, and I do not think it is rational to fear or hate them at all as they are some of the nicest people I know.
So yes, I think being Islamaphobic can be looked down upon as a negative.
August 4th, 2013 at 15:23
*Sorry, Jessica. Final edit. Please delete the other ones, thanks!*
My point was that you criticized Fox for the wrong reason knowing what you already knew about them, which gave me reason to doubt you did. It’s like scolding a retarded child for not understanding the Laws of Thermodynamics. Who’s the real stupid person there?
As for the second point, I very much disagree. That argument is the most common red herring against Islamophobia. I have Muslim friends, too, and most of my friends and family are Catholics, and although I am no fan of all the Abrahamic religions, I do not hate them either (well, some of them, I do hate).
Islam is not = Muslim. You make the much too common mistake of conflating ideology with people who like to believe it (or at least parts of it). The Qur’an and the Hadith are very explicit about the Muslim duty of smiting the necks of the infidels in several passages. Please do not use the metaphor card. There is no other context by which those summons should be interpreted other than that they mean what they literally mean. I do not think it is rational to fear or hate people just because they nominally call themselves “Muslims” either (as 99% of people who call themselves Muslims or Christians don’t really care or even know about what their scriptures say anyway) but to not do so for those who actually carry out the orders is not only irrational but goes against human nature.
Have you seen the video I put the link of above? Dennis Prager makes the case that the term “Islamophobia” is actually perfect in that it doesn’t demonize people (in the sense that xenophobia or homophobia do, which is where I put the distinction in the first clause of my argument) but puts the blame squarely on the IDEOLOGY behind the actions of people and not on the people themselves.
Here is the complete discussion where the video above was taken from and I completely agree with Hitch and Prager on this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZqy8cHycAU
I can call myself a Christianophobe as much as an Islamophobe but there is more reason to be the latter right now given how Islamists are the ones who have applied their theology to reality in a more significant, dangerous, unjust (suppression of women’s rights, anyone?) and widespread manner as to cause real fear.
August 4th, 2013 at 15:53
Although, I do realize a Christian or Jew who’s also an Islamophobe is a hypocrite or, at the very least, ignorant of his own religion.
August 6th, 2013 at 20:01
“My point was that you criticized Fox for the wrong reason knowing what you already knew about them, which gave me reason to doubt you did. It’s like scolding a retarded child for not understanding the Laws of Thermodynamics. Who’s the real stupid person there?”
So are you saying that I cannot criticize corrupt politicians even if I already know that they are corrupt? That’s actually stupid. Just because we already know something negative about something or someone doesn’t mean we can no longer criticize them.
Trust me, I’ve known about Fox and the extreme US right-wing. The likes of Ann Coulter and Jerry Falwell are much too prevalent in the stuff I come across, having to understand and be immersed in US culture given the job that I have here.
And so I can criticize Fox as much as I want even if I know their politics in much the same way I can criticize Gloria Arroyo, or the CBCP, or any other entity even if I know what I know about them.
You may want to brush up on your logic.
As for Islamophobia, Islam is not the same as the extremist ideologies espoused by the terrorists, and the problem is that most Islamophobes fear most if not all Muslims, not just the terrorists.
Ever wonder why there are panic attacks of some people when an Arab-looking Muslim man boards a plane in the US? Or why some Americans do racial/religious profiling when they meet someone and then treat that person differently upon finding out he is Muslim, even if he were completely innocent?
They fear the man even if he were completely innocent because they are lumping him in with the terrorists by virtue of his looks alone. This is completely irrational.
There is absolutely everything wrong with Islamophobia in the same way there is everything wrong with homophobia, or transphobia, or Christianophobia, or anti-Semitism, or whatever.
On this case, we will have to agree to disagree.
August 6th, 2013 at 22:01
And with that, we are putting an end to this discussion. If you want to continue, contact each other directly.
You two are largely in agreement anyway.
August 6th, 2013 at 23:55
Please email me at the_one_lv@yahoo.com if you want to read my reply.
August 7th, 2013 at 10:29
Thanks for the patience, Jessica! It’s nice to know that this can also be a forum for healthy and intelligent debate. :)