Mainstream media outlets are reacting strongly to a recent Fox News interview with a religion scholar who doubts the divinity of Jesus.
At issue is the fact that religion correspondent Lauren Green questioned whether Reza Aslan, a Muslim and author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, could write an objective book about Jesus.
The Media Research Center (MRC) recalls that Salman Rushdie, who wrote a book questioning Islam, had to go into hiding for his work, while Reza Aslan questions a central belief of Christianity and gets a prime-time slot on CNN and an army of leftist defenders like The Washington Post, Salon, The Huffington Post and countless others.
“We find out that this guy who comes across as a jerk during his Lauren Green interview, it turns out that’s entirely what he is -- a big-time jerk the left-wing media has gone berserk defending,” comments Dan Gainor, vice president of business and culture at MRC. “And this is just totally in sync with where they are. Anybody can be a jerk to Christians, but my gosh if Christians write anything about Islam, or maybe even somebody who’s Islamic says anything about Islam -- like Salman Rushdie. And somehow that’s thought of as okay, and the media don’t get upset when he gets fatwas.”
In a new op-ed for FoxNews.com, Gainor wonders why the left thinks it inappropriate for Fox News to question a Muslim author who wrote a book claiming Jesus was a fraud. During the interview with Fox News Live, host Lauren Green asked Aslan about his credentials.
“There’s nothing wrong with asking tough questions,” Gainor contends. “The problem we’ve got right now is that the American media has become stenographers. They don’t ask tough questions; they particularly don’t ask tough questions to somebody they have a built-in love for .... It’s immediately yet another example to attack Fox. It’s hilarious.”
Since the interview, Aslan’s publisher, Random House, reports it has ordered 50,000 more copies of the book.