The Fox News Fiasco

Printed here originally

Fox News has always been criticized for sensationalism, drama, and for coming up with the most bizarre conspiracy theories. But the latest scandal has resulted in numerous published articles condemning Fox News for spreading anti-Muslim propaganda.

Last Friday, Reza Aslan, a renowned scholar of religion who has a PhD in the sociology of religions was invited on FoxNews.com’s show Spirited Debate to talk about his new book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.

However, instead of asking intelligent questions about the argument of the book, or some of the scholarly discussion or sources used by the author, Lauren Green, the host of the show, went on to drill Aslan with the most ridiculous questions, which clearly insinuated that the host had some islamophobic sentiments.

For those of you who haven’t watched the video, go ahead and watch it below:

One immediately got the sense that the interviewer is up to no good when the first question she asked was: "You're a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?"

Most renowned scholars who are invited for interviews usually do not have to defend their credibility by listing the number of degrees that they have but Aslan, who seemed taken aback by Green’s question, was forced to say that he has four degrees, is an expert on the New Testament and is fluent in biblical Greek and has been studying Christianity for two decades.

For most people, this answer should have been enough to stop the ridiculous probing into Aslan’s background and faith but Green didn’t think so. She went on to drill Aslan, expressing incredulity at how he could possibly be interested in Christianity and in Jesus.

Aslan then went on to explain how academia works as if he was talking to a two year old child. He went on to tell Green that he has nothing against Christianity and that he is not against the religion he loves to write about. He said that the book in fact provides many arguments which conflict with Islamic beliefs about Jesus.

Green was unconvinced and went on to say that she had interviewed many religious scholars who have written books on Jesus and the resurrection, and that Aslan claiming that his information is different from the one presented by these renowned scholars is wrong.

Green’s comments displayed an utter lack of ignorance about how the world of academia works. The whole point of being in academia is to constantly question and critically analyze the information that is available, to probe the historical documents over and over again as well as to constantly have scholarly debate with other scholars in the field. Looking at particular historical incidents or figures and re-analyzing them, and then making an argument that is unique, that is “different” and that produces new evidence or a new viewpoint is exactly what produces a successful scholar.

Moreover, it’s not like Aslan was making up stuff about Jesus and Christianity in his book without supporting documentation. He claimed that his endnotes contained all the information that is needed for an academic to back up his argument, explaining that he consulted 1000 books in his discussion and that he has 100 notes at the end of the book.

Green still seemed unable to come to terms with the fact that a Muslim could somehow be interested in Jesus or Christianity even though Aslan cited his credentials as an expert religious scholar over and over again and even went on to say that he could not fathom why his faith had anything to do with him writing this book. Exasperated, Aslan said, “I am a historian, I am a PhD in the history of religions! This isn't a Muslim opinion. This is an academic work of history, not about the Christ or Christianity for that matter. It’s about a historical man who walked the earth two thousand years ago in the land of the Romans called Palestine.”

What’s wrong with being passionate about studying a certain subject? Does this mean that all Jewish and Christian scholars ought to stop writing about Islam because they have no right to do so? Does this mean that renowned scholars such as Karen Armstrong ought to stop publishing books that have anything to do with Islam?

Green’s most ridiculous assertion was that Aslan never mentioned in previous interviews that he was a Muslim. First of all, what does one’s faith have anything to do with one’s professional career? A Christian writing about Jesus would probably have a more biased opinion than someone from another religion writing about Jesus. And it was evident that Green had no idea what Aslan’s book was about since she had no clue that his faith was mentioned in the second page of the book, and he was not trying to hide the fact that he is a Muslim.

Not surprisingly, the interview caused immediate sparks on social media and blogging sites and Buzzfeed asked, "Is This The Most Embarrassing Interview Fox News Has Ever Done?"

The Twitter hashtag #foxnewslitcrit was born, where people mocked the utter lunacy of Green’s questions. Some of the popular tweets were the following:

"Ms Rowling, how can you, as a mudblood, write about Wizards?" #foxnewslitcrit
— Zarrar Khuhro (@ZarrarKhuhro) July 28, 2013

It is quite deceitful if not fraudulent to call yourself @FoxNews when your news contains nothing about foxes. #FoxNewsLitCrit
— Zuhair (@LesWayfarers) July 29, 2013

Mr. R. R. Martin, you've never actually seen a dragon, what gives you the right to put them in books? #AntiDragonBias #foxnewslitcrit
— TheFeminineMissGeek (@femmissgeek) July 29, 2013

"Why would a *woman* write a book about a man?" #foxnewslitcrit; see intrvw w/ @rezaaslan http://t.co/Zf3pRTF7jX
— JeffSharlet (@JeffSharlet) July 28, 2013

All I would like to say to Ms. Greene is that since she is not an academic historian, nor a religious scholar, she has absolutely no right to have a discussion about a historical or religious figure or to interview someone who is an academic scholar. The fact that the interviewer forced the academic scholar to continuously defend himself against unjust allegations about having some kind of agenda against Christianity and forced him to continuously cite his credentials and defend his legitimacy as a scholar was disgraceful. However, this interview actually proved to be good for Aslan’s book as people are now dying to read it more than ever. If there is one thing Fox News is good at, it is at making something immensely popular. Thank you Fox News for promoting this book in such a demented fashion. I can’t wait to order it!