Fox News has hit a lot of lows in their time, but this byfar takes the cake. In a recent interview with LA-based religion scholar and Daily Beast contributor Reza Aslan to promote his new book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Fox News religion correspondant Lauren Green asked Aslan what she apparently believed to be a totally acceptable, reasonable question: "You’re a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?"
Aslan points out that he is "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." Which is true—a quick look at Aslan's comprehensive Wikipedia profile shows that he's studied different religions extensively, and it's basically his life's work to debate religion in an educated manner.
Despite this, the interview only gets worse: Green continues to read various criticisms of Zealot from both published reviews and viewers—all of which miss the fact that Aslan is an educated scholar and presenting evidence based in fact, not opinion—and then goes as far to suggest that Aslan "hid" the fact that he was Muslim in order to mislead people who read his book. This is untrue, though, as Aslan responded: "Ma’am, the second page of my book says I’m a Muslim. Every single interview I have ever done on TV or in print says I’m a Muslim."
There's your "fair and balanced" Fox News, everyone.
[via Uproxx]
