17AR22-21

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AR 22:21 - Deconstructing Reza Aslan

In this issue:

ASLAN, REZA - "You can love Jesus and still be a racist."

+ Helping us "move towards more acceptance of each other?"

PHILOSOPHY - "cultivating invulnerability is the way to end much of personal suffering?"

POLITICS - "We've allowed politics to take up emotional space in our lives that it's not meant to take up"

Apologia Report 22:21 (1,341)

June 1, 2017

ASLAN, REZA

What to make of all the hubbub surrounding this man and his Believer TV show <www.goo.gl/WwLrUI> on CNN? As with many pop-culture controversies, something unintentionally helpful eventually turns up - in this case, Ana Marie Cox's interview with Aslan, "Reza Aslan Thinks TV Can End Bigotry." Aslan comments: "There is no medium on this earth that has more power to transform the way that people think about others than television."

Excerpts:

* - Cox: "Do you think TV is an ideal place to educate people about different religions?"

* - Aslan: "Look at what's happening with Islamophobia or anti-Semitism: [One] percent of the population of America is Muslim. Two percent is Jewish. ... And so the only Muslims or Jews that you will ever be exposed to are the ones on television."

Later on, Aslan remarks that he "converted to Christianity in high school."

* - Cox: "What brought you back to Islam?"

* - Aslan: "I started studying religion, and I quickly discovered what everyone who studies religion discovers: Underneath the externalities of these religious traditions, they're all saying the same thing. The principal metaphors of Christianity no longer worked for me as I got older, so I started looking for other metaphors. I went back and studied Islam again, and I found the language that I was looking for."

* - Cox: "What does your religious practice look like now?"

* - Aslan: "I have a Christian wife; I have twin sons, one of whom is convinced he's Jewish, and one of whom, after he read the Ramayana, was like, "That's it, I'm Hindu." I have a 2-year-old boy that we just assume is a reincarnation of the Buddha in some way."

* - Cox: "Because of your conversion to and departure from evangelical Christianity, do you have any insight into why so many evangelicals voted for Trump?"

* - Aslan concludes: "You can love Jesus and still be a racist."

A sidebar offers facts about Aslan: age, occupation, hometown, and "His Top 5 Gods":

1. Ahura Mazda

2. P'an Ku

3. The Aten

4. Ganesha

5. Loki

New York Times Magazine, Mar 26 '17, p94. <www.goo.gl/ZEpnSO>

"Reza Aslan's 'Believer' - Seeking Truths & Understandings in an Increasingly Divided World" by Dilshad Ali -- "There's no question that we are in a very divided time, not just in the U.S. but in the world. ... In many ways, this show is the antidote to that." Ali interviews Aslan, asking: "What are you hoping viewers will learn or absorb?" Answer: "I want the viewer to be entertained."

Ali: "By watching a series like this, can folks move towards more acceptance of each other?" Aslan: "Not only do I think [that's] the case, [it] is the whole reason I made this series." Much more here that's worth a look. Pathos, Mar 1 '17, <www.goo.gl/tZlaen>

Also consider:

John Stonestreet, "Reza Aslan Doesn't Get Religion," in Prison Fellowship's Breakpoint Daily on March 17. <www.goo.gl/qcpVV9>

David Pakman, host of a "nationally syndicated progressive talk TV and radio show" who questions Aslan's academic integrity (among other things) in "Reza Aslan Cannot Be Trusted" <www.goo.gl/XSFK88>

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PHILOSOPHY

A Fragile Life: Accepting Our Vulnerability, by Todd May [1] -- "In this jargon-free and carefully reasoned book, May does what he does best: tackles a significant topic that sits at the heart of what it means to live a human life; spells out the options; takes a clearly enunciated position; and tells his readers why it matters and what difference it makes. Here he argues against the official view of Stoicism, Buddhism, Daoism, and ancient Epicureanism, that cultivating invulnerability is the way to end much of personal suffering. May finds such meditative practices valuable for pain caused by small matters but calls for a philosophy that affirms acceptance of vulnerability in matters of major significance, particularly relationships in which openness to hurt seems part and parcel of a meaningful life. VERDICT Readers may suspect that May's presentation of the 'official doctrines' that he challenges deserves a richer understanding. Even so, they will appreciate this moving exploration of lived philosophy. Steve Young, McHenry Cty. Coll., Crystal Lake, IL." Library Journal, Mar 15 '17

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POLITICS

"Democrats Have a Religion Problem: A conversation with Michael Wear, a former Obama White House staffer, about the party's illiteracy on and hostility toward white evangelicals" by Emma Green -- Stating the obvious? Well, yes. However, this discussion is encouraging. For example, in her interview with Wear, Green begins by explaining that he "helped with faith-outreach strategies for Obama's 2008 campaign, but was surprised when some state-level officials decided not to pursue this kind of engagement: 'Sometimes - as I came to understand the more I worked in politics - a person's reaction to religious ideas is not ideological at all, but personal,'" he writes in his recent book Reclaiming Hope [2].

Green's interview covers such questions as: Why did 81 percent of white evangelicals vote for Donald Trump?; Why has the Democratic Party been unwilling to do outreach to people who hold particular theological points of view?; It's basically impossible to be a pro-life Democrat. Why do you think it is that the party has moved in that direction?; What might move Democrats to reconsider a compromise on their attitude toward evangelicals?

Wear offers substantive responses, including: "It's much easier to make people scared of evangelicals than trying to make an appeal to them."; "The Democratic Party used to welcome people who didn't support abortion into the party. We are now so far from that, it's insane."; and "We've allowed politics to take up emotional space in our lives that it's not meant to take up." The Atlantic, Dec 29 '16, <www.goo.gl/ATJBCj>

Of Wear's Reclaiming Hope, Timothy Keller says: "This is an important and extremely timely book. It is partly a memoir, partly a reflection on the relationships between faith and governing power, and partly a road map for navigating the unprecedented social and cultural changes we are facing. It's readable and thought-provoking. Get it, read it, and talk to others about it."

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - A Fragile Life: Accepting Our Vulnerability, by Todd May (Univ of Chicago Prs, 2017, hardcover, 232 pages) <www.goo.gl/7EefP8>

2 - Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House About the Future of Faith in America, by Michael Wear (Thomas Nelson, 2017, hardcover, 304 pages) <www.goo.gl/RIrVqB>

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