Religious Scholar Takes Fox News Host to School

On July 26, author and religious historian Reza Aslan was a guest on "Spirited Debate", a FoxNews.com webcast about religion hosted by Lauren Green. Aslan was on the program to promote his new book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. The interview has gone viral and Ms. Green has been heavily criticized. Words such as "the worst", "most embarrassing", and "cringe-worthy" have been used to describe her interview with Aslan. You can watch and see if the criticism is apt or not.



The merits of Ms. Green's opening question regarding why a Muslim would write a book on Christianity is debatable. One could argue that it was designed for those not familiar with Aslan's work. This theory may be giving Ms. Green too much credit though. However, once Aslan gave his response, Ms. Green sounded downright silly when she asked why he'd be interested in the founder of Christianity. If Pamela Geller was on "Spirited Debate" promoting one of her books about Islam, do you think Ms. Green would have questioned why a Christian is writing about Islam?! After watching the interview, it may appear to some as if Aslan wears his academic credentials on his sleeve. However, I think it was unfortunately necessary for him to repeatedly state his credentials because Ms. Green couldn't get off her talking point of whether or not he was qualified to write the book in the first place. As a side note, I'm willing to bet Aslan knows more about Christianity than many of the so-called Christians walking around.

During the interview, Ms. Green read criticisms of the book by two theologians and someone watching the webcast. Nothing wrong with that. However, the interview would have been much better if she also read passages from the book itself and then asked Aslan questions related to them. Ms. Green also accuses Aslan of trying to conceal his Muslim background. At this point she should have stayed down because Aslan easily dismantled her claim.

Until this past weekend, I had never heard of Reza Aslan. However, I think this interview will serve to raise his profile in a positive way because he calmly and eloquently stated his reasons for writing the book. Although I was familiar with Ms. Green's previous work reading news updates on the Fox News channel, with this interview many others are probably seeing her for the first time. The word "inauspicious" comes to mind.

Reza Aslan's interview with Lauren Green has proved to be a win-win for him. In addition to thoroughly schooling Ms. Green, Aslan has seen sales of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth skyrocket. While it was selling steadily before the interview, as I write this post it is the #1 book on Amazon.com.

Guest Post by Monique About the Recent Lowe's/All-American Muslim Controversy

As you may know, there recently was a controversy involving Lowe's decision to pull their ads from the TLC reality show All-American Muslim. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to write a post in a timely manner. However, I recently visited moniqueblog and noticed that she wrote an excellent piece on the topic. I asked Monique if she'd be willing to let me borrow it for Diversity Ink and she kindly obliged.

 

“All-American Muslim”: The Lowe’s controversy

Credit: Wikipedia
 
I actually intended on talking about this controversy a whole lot sooner than I am, but I’m talking about it now. Recently, Lowe’s has been in the middle of a firestorm concerning their initial support–then non-support–of the TLC show All-American Muslim. According to myfellowamerican.us:

“ [L]ast week Lowe’s Home Improvement pulled its ads from the TLC show All-American Muslim in response to an organization claiming the show “falsely humanized Muslims in America.” The Lowe’s controversy has exposed more Islamophobia in America. This issue falls directly in line with what the My Fellow American project is trying to prevent and overcome in America.”

According to this post, the main group behind the statements about humanization is the fringe group the Florida Family Association.

I’m more than appalled at how some people have the nerve to say that this show about HUMANS ”falsely humanize[s]” HUMANS. Let’s get some things straight here:

• Islam is not only a religion, it is the second-largest religion in the world and is growing every day.
• Not all Muslims come from the Middle East. Islam has a very big community in the United States. In fact, some of my own family members are Muslim. Basically, ANYONE can be a Muslim–you don’t have to look like a certain person to be a Muslim.
• Islam, Judaism and Christianity are ALL RELATED. They stem from the same stories and teachings. If you respect one of the three, you should respect them all, since they are all related to each other.
• Saying that Muslims are being “falsely humanized” is not a very Christian-like thing to say. It’s not a very spiritual thing to say period. It’s gross and stupid.

So that’s my stance on this. Lowe’s should be the bigger person in this situation and actually stand for acceptance of all people. Let’s face it–it’s not just Christians who shop at Lowe’s. Muslims like home-renovation just as much as anyone else, and Lowe’s profits should diminish once some clientele stops showing up.

If you want to voice your opinion about this, make sure to go to My Fellow American. You can also share your own stories of acceptance as well as watch the short film on Muslims in America.

More reading:

The Huffington Post–A new Lowe for Anti-Muslim Bigotry

Adweek–Lowe’s in Facebook Hell as Racist Comments Pile Up

Guest Post by Sue: Insensitivity or Bigotry...

In late August, I contacted Sue (whose blog is titled Helloooo...... Mr. President, are you listening??) and asked if she was interested in writing a guest post. She offered up the following about the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" controversy:

"Lose your ego, find your compassion."

If Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has a mantra it is this: "Islamic extremism for the majority of Muslims is an oxymoron; It is a fundamental contradiction in terms."

71% of New Yorkers oppose the building of a mosque in lower Manhattan.. Are they being reasonable or reactionary? Is this about first amendment rights or insensitivity towards 9/11 victims families? It's not the only mosque in Manhattan, so why all the fighting? Not because it's being built on hallowed ground because it is not. It's on a sight 2 blocks from hallowed ground. Peace loving Muslims did not fly planes into the twin towers on 9/11, Islamic extremists did. So I'm baffled by that argument.

So then, who is Imam Rauf?

Fearmongering conservative politicians have called him a radical Muslim, a militant Islamist, and unbelievably "the enemy". His project in lower Manhattan has been framed as a conduit for Hamas to funnel money to domestic terrorist operations.

For those who actually know or have worked with the imam, the descriptions are frighteningly unhinged from reality. The Feisal Abdul Rauf they know spent the past decade fighting against the very same cultural divisiveness and religious-based paranoia that currently surrounds him.

"Imam Feisal has participated at the Aspen Institute in Muslim-Christian-Jewish working groups looking at ways to promote greater religious tolerance," says Walter Isaacson, head of The Aspen Institute. "He has consistently denounced radical Islam and terrorism and promoted a moderate and tolerant Islam. Some of this work was done under the auspices of his own group, the Cordoba Initiative... This is why I find it a shame that his good work is being undermined by this inflamed dispute. He is the type of leader we should be celebrating in America - not undermining."

Just days after the 9/11 attacks, Bush had much to say about the need for religious tolerance even after Islamic extremists carried out the worst foreign attack in history on U.S. soil.

"The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam," Bush said at the Islamic Center of Washington in a speech that set the tenor for when he later sent U.S. troops to fight on Muslim soil in Afghanistan and later Iraq. "That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace. They represent evil and war."

He went on to say millions of American Muslims "need to be treated with respect. In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect."

Passionate conservatism is dying in our country. The conservatives care only about regaining power in November. I don't believe for one minute this mosque debate will rage on after the elections, but the lasting effects are sure to harm our nation at home and around the globe.  What this hateful rhetoric means to the terrorists is we are not tolerant of Islam and of our Muslim citizens. We are a country of bigots and if we keep this up we are allowing the terrorists to win. Muslim Americans are enduring hate and bigotry all over this country, more now than ever with the election of Barack Obama.

Things have surely changed in America. What happened to our "melting pot" country? We are bigots, we are hateful towards our Muslim brothers and sisters. I am embarrassed and ashamed of my country today....