Is the Trump presidency a religious cult? | Reza Aslan

Are fundamentalist Christians a dangerous religious cult? Possibly. The controversial author and religious scholar Reza Aslan posits that President Donald Trump has much of his evangelical fan-base believing that he's somehow been anointed by God to become President.

Nevermind the Russian election scandal, his affairs with porn stars and unwarranted sexual acts towards women, or his inability to remember even a single Bible verse when asked. Evangelical Christians are abandoning their core moral beliefs to follow, as Reza suggests, someone who exhibits every trademark of a cult leader.

Eighty-one percent of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in the previous election. That’s a record. That’s more white evangelicals than voted for George W. Bush—and George W. Bush was a white evangelical.

This makes no sense to people, especially when you consider that Trump is not just the most irreligious president in modern history, that his entire worldview makes a mockery of core Christian values like humility and empathy and care for the poor; That this individual who couldn’t even name a single verse in the bible when asked to do so, and yet - and yet - received a record number of votes by white evangelicals.

Scholars of religion—normal, rational, people—have been trying to figure out why. Why? What happened?

And I think that there’s a couple of things to keep in mind.

Number one, it’s white evangelicals. Eighty-one percent of white evangelicals voted for Trump, but 67 percent of evangelicals of color supported Hillary Clinton.

Now, these are people who believed the exact same thing, whose only real difference is that.. is the color of their skin.

So let’s not ignore the fact that there is a racial element to this support.

Jim Wallace, the head of the Sojourners, a liberal evangelical group, said it best when he said that these white evangelicals “acted more white than they did evangelical.” And I think he’s right. The second reason I think has to do with the pernicious influence of something called the prosperity gospel, which has gripped the imaginations of white evangelicals.
This is that version of Christianity preached by these charlatans like Joel Olstein and T.D. Jakes, the essential gist of which is that God wants you to drive a Bentley, that what Jesus really wants for you is material prosperity—and indeed that’s how you know God has blessed you, is by your material prosperity.

Many white evangelicals looked at Donald Trump, and what they saw was a wealthy man. And that wealth, as far as they were concerned, was just a sign of God’s blessings.
And so that freed Trump from having to do what every other candidate, certainly every other Republican candidate for president has had to do, and that is: actually prove his spiritual bonafides. Trump never had to do that. All he had to do was just keep talking about how rich he was. And for a large swathe of white evangelicals that was enough.

Thirdly, Donald Trump did something that no other president, not even any Republican president courting the evangelical vote ever did. He expressly promised secular power to these white evangelical groups.

In his speeches to them and in the conferences that he had, both private and public, he very clearly and very explicitly said that if they voted for him that he would give them “their power back,” even if he didn’t agree with their pet causes that he would just allow them to have those causes.

And you can see as president he’s talking now about removing, for instance, the Johnson Amendment, which is an amendment that prohibits preachers and churches from actually engaging directly in politics and preaching politics from the pulpit. It’s why they get to keep their tax break. No one has ever thought about removing this requirement until Donald Trump.
And now he is very seriously moving towards allowing churches to take part directly in political activism as churches.
But none of this, none of this explains the most important phenomenon about white evangelicals in America, and that is this: In the span of a single election cycle, white evangelicals have gone from being the group in America that is most likely to say that a politician’s morality matters to the group that is now least likely to say that.
Atheists in America think that a politician’s morality matters more than white evangelicals in America do—White evangelicals who continue to refer to themselves as value voters.

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Reza Aslan's Lies and Media Bias (David Pakman Interview)

David Pakman recently published a video which thoughtfully and meticulously explains and deconstructs Reza Aslan's lack of credibility, lies, and the media bias that supports him

Reza Aslan Cannot Be Trusted

A critique of Reza Aslan's religion apologetics.



Article: Reza Aslan—Historian?

Website: https://www.davidpakman.com

Reza Aslan - Bigotry, Fundamentalism and Neo-Atheism in the Media

Professor Reza Aslan is the author of the New York Times #1 Bestseller "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth," and is a writer and scholar on religious studies.

Is there a media bias against Islam? Reza Aslan points to certain media pundits and hosts who call all religion bad, but Islam "the worst." Is it bigoted when pundits like Sam Harris call any non-extremist Muslims "not real" Muslims? Are some media commentators denouncing and defining Christian and Muslim extremism themselves fundamentalist bigots? Where is the balance between when interpreting holy text? What is the difference between atheism and neo-atheism? Is there such a thing as the one "truth?"



Reza Aslan sits down with The Young Turks' Cenk Uygur to discuss and debate the state of religious commentary in media, religious ignorance, the removal of religion from society and neo-atheism, what it really means to be religious, picking-and-choosing attitudes across the board, and much more on fundamental misunderstandings of religion.

The Young Turks, October 2014

Excising Women: ultra-Orthodox Judaism

The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC, 1-13-2015

Sam Harris vs Reza Aslan: Can religion and reason be reconciled

Sam Harris vs Reza Aslan Full Unedited Video

Improved video starting at 40:45.

Sam Harris vs Reza Aslan Debate Edited to be Only Sam Harris Speaking

Improved video starts at 11:30.

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Los Angeles January, 25 2007

Would Jesus Love or Hate Republicans?

“The Jesus of history was the exact opposite of everything Fox News host Bill O’Reilly thinks, according to religious scholar Reza Aslan.

The professor made the remarks while speaking at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council in February. Video of the event was uploaded on Tuesday.



During the discussion about his book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, an audience member asked Aslan if he had read O’Reilly’s book about Jesus, called Killing Jesus."

* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.
November 2014

CNN Cowardly Attacks Reza Aslan Following Epic Bill Maher/CNN Takedown

"Chris Cuomo thinks the “angry” tone Professor Reza Aslan took this week with CNN hosts Don Lemon and Alisyn Camerota unwittingly demonstrated the exact hostility some people fear of the Islamic faith.

On Sept. 29, Aslan appeared on CNN Tonight and slammed Bill Maher for his comments on the Islamic faith, while also scolding Lemon and Camerota for what he felt was an “over-generalization” of 1.5 billion Muslim people as promoting violence.

“This is the problem,” he said Monday night. “These conversations that we’re having aren’t really being had in any kind of legitimate way. We’re not talking about women in the Muslim world, we’re using two or three examples to justify a generalization. That’s actually the definition of bigotry.”“* Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola (TYT University), Jimmy Dore (The Jimmy Dore Show) and Wes Clark Jr break it down.

Sam Harris debates Reza Aslan

Samuel B. Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American author, philosopher and neuroscientist, as well as the co-founder and CEO of Project Reason. Sam Harris is the author of The End of Faith, which was published in 2004 and appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list for 33 weeks. The book also won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction in 2005. In 2006, Sam Harris published the book Letter to a Christian Nation as a response to criticism of The End of Faith. This work was followed by The Moral Landscape, published in 2010, his long-form essay Lying in 2011, and the short book Free Will in 2012.



Sam Harris is a contemporary critic of religion and proponent of scientific skepticism and the "New Atheism". Sam Harris is also an advocate for the separation of church and state, freedom of religion, and the liberty to criticize religion. Sam Harris has written numerous articles for The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Newsweek, and the journal Nature. His articles touch upon a diversity of topics, including religion, morality, neuroscience, free will, terrorism, and self-defense.

In his 2010 book The Moral Landscape, he argues that science can help answer moral problems, and can aid the facilitation of human well-being. Sam Harris regularly gives talks around the United States and Great Britain, which include speeches at the University of Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Caltech, Berkeley, Stanford University, and Tufts University, as well as TED, where he outlined the arguments made in his book The Moral Landscape.[8] Harris has also made numerous television appearances, including interviews for Nightline, Real Time with Bill Maher, The O'Reilly Factor, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and The Last Word, among others. He also appeared in the documentary films The God Who Wasn't There (2005) and The Unbelievers

DECODING THE PAST: SECRETS OF THE KORAN

The Koran is one of the most important works ever written. For almost one billion people worldwide, it is the Holy Scripture, the word of God and his prophet. For others, it is a historical artifact that has left an indelible imprint on the world.



DECODING THE PAST: SECRETS OF THE KORAN probes the heart of the work that many outside Islam find mysterious. This feature-length program examines the history of the verses and their implications for modern times, as wel as the striking similarities and differences between the Koran and the Bible. Trace the influence of the Koran from the Golden Age of Islam to the modern rise of jihadism, and hear from top Islamic scholars and holy men as they share their insights into the work that lies at the foundation of one of the world's great religions.

THE HISTORY CHANNEL provides the perfect guide to understanding the fundamental work that has shaped the Muslim faith for over 1,400 years, and will long continue to influence modern history. DVD Features: "Muhammad" Episode of the Award-Winning A&E Series BIOGRAPHY; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection.

Sam Harris Response to Reza Aslan Calling Him a Fundamentalist Atheist

The Muslim Reza Aslan says: "The most literal literalist in the world doesn't read the Bible more literally than Sam Harris does."



Huffpost live

Reza Aslan "Zealot - The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth"

Interview on NPR's Fresh Air with Reza Aslan, author of "Zealot - The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth"

Jennifer Crumpton interviews Reza Aslan

Jennifer Crumpton interviews Reza Aslan, author of "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth"

Interview with Reza Aslan, Author of 'Zealot' by Cenk

Reza Aslan is a religious scholar and the author of " Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth." He has become notorious after being the subject of an interview with Fox News' Lauren Green in what is now thought to be one of the worst, most biased interviews on television ever. Aslan tried, but was ultimately unable to talk about his book in depth. Now, he sits with Cenk Uygur and discusses "Zealot" and his historical and religious findings about Jesus Christ.



The Young Turks, 2013

The Anti-Muslim, Anti-Fact Reza Aslan Interview Goes Viral

Fox News' Ignoramus: The Anti-Muslim, Anti-Fact Reza Aslan Interview Goes Viral



Video from August 2013

Watch the full interview by Fox News: Reza Aslan To Fox News Anchor: "I Wrote 'Zealot' Because I Am An Expert"

Podcast interview about the book: Zealot - The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

Reza Aslan To Fox News Anchor: "I Wrote 'Zealot' Because I Am An Expert"

"You're a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?" Fox News' Lauren Green demanded of religious scholar Reza Aslan, author of "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth," on Friday.



Reza Aslan responded, "Well, to be clear, I am 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."

The answer did not seem to satisfy Green, so Aslan added, "Because it's my job as an academic. I am a professor of religion, including the New Testament. That's what I do for a living, actually."

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Coment: Not all believe Jesus was crusifed. We don't have any evidence that Jesus evin existed.

Why I Think Jesus Didn't Exist: A Historian Explains the Evidence That Changed His Mind
The Jesus Christ Conspiracy
Did Jesus Exist? tv-program
Debunking the Jesus Myth - Robert M. Price
Did Jesus Exist?

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The Young Turks coment

Zealot - The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

Interview on NPR's Fresh Air with Reza Aslan, author of "Zealot - The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth"



Writer and scholar Reza Aslan was 15 years old when he found Jesus. His secular Muslim family had fled to the U.S. from Iran, and Aslan's conversion was, in a sense, an adolescent's attempt to fit into American life and culture. "My parents were certainly surprised," Aslan tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross.

As Reza Aslan got older, he began his studies in the history of Christianity, and he started to lose faith. He came to the realization that Jesus of Nazareth was quite different from the Messiah he'd been introduced to at church. "I became very angry," he says. "I became resentful. I turned away from Christianity. I began to really reject the concept of Christ."

But Reza Aslan continued his Christian scholarship, and he found that he was increasingly interested in Jesus as a historical figure. The result is his new book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth — a historical look at Jesus in the context of his time and Jewish religion, and against the backdrop of the Roman Empire.

Christ In Context: 'Zealot' Explores The Life Of Jesus

Reza Aslan "Zealot - The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth"

Evangelical Minister: Bible 'Hates Fags,' God's A 'Psychotic Mass Murderer'

Bill Maher Takes On Evangelical Minister (Jim Wallis): Bible 'Hates Fags,' God's A 'Psychotic Mass Murderer'



July 26, 2013 - Bill Maher is no fan of religion, but he opened his interview with liberal Evangelical minister Jim Wallis by calling him "one of the good ones." But what bothered Maher so much is why someone like Wallis, who believes in civil disobedience and supports the rights of gays and other minority groups, would put stock in a document written thousands of years ago that has no problem with slavery and polygamy, and considers homosexuality an offense punishable by death.

Maher told Wallis that the Bible clearly "hates fags," although Jesus himself never talked about homosexuality, and asked, "How do you reconcile this idea that it all comes from the Bible, but the Bible is so flawed" and full of "nonsense" and "viciousness"?

Wallis countered that people who talk about the Bible haven't exactly read it, though Maher protested he did. Wallis played up how he had a group of religious people rallying for immigration reform in D.C. because of their faith, but Maher interjected to say, "You're cherry-picking the good parts."

Maher told Wallis that it's hard for someone to say God is "perfect" when there's a lot of twisted morality in the Bible itself.

"It's pro-slavery, pro-polygamy, it's homophobic, God in the Old Testament is a psychotic mass murderer--I mean, there's so many things in it, and I always say to my religious friends, you know, if a pool had even one turd in it, would you jump in?"
Wallis explained how he found there to be 2000 verses in the Bible talking about the poor, but two more times Maher called him out for not answering the question. At one point, he quipped to guest Eliot Spitzer, "This guy's an even better politician than you."

Wallis argued he'd only like people to take the Bible literally "when it says love your neighbor as yourself," and when Maher shot back about the Bible commanding people to kill neighbors who work on Sundays, he brushed it aside and said Jesus didn't want that. A confused Maher tried to understand. "So Jesus is correcting the Old Testament, which is by his dad, who's really him. I don't..."

Spitzer made the case for progressives embracing people like Wallis in order to push back against "fundamentalist religion dictat[ing] our political discourse," while Reza Aslan made the simple point that literally everyone picks and chooses what parts of the Bible to follow, "even the most literalist literalist."

Sam harris vs Reza Aslan on book tv

Debate between author of the "End of Faith" Sam Harris with " Iranian born American professor Reza Aslan, author of "No god but God" and "How to Win A Cosmic war.



The debate revolves around the notion that Islam is more likely to endorse violnace than other religions, Religion and Secularism, and Faith and Rationality.

Improved video starting at 40:45.

The birth of Muhammad

In a society with no fixed calender, "The Year of the Elephant," as it came to be known, was not only the most important date in recent memory, it was the commencement of a new Arab chronology. That is why the early biographers set Muhammad's birth in the year 570, os that it would coincide with another significant date.

But 570 is neigther the correct year of Muhammad's birth nor, for that matter, of the Abyssinian attack on Mecca; modern scholarship has determined that momentous event to have taken place around 552 C.E.

The fact is that no one knows now, just as no one knew then, when Muhammad was born, because birthdays were not necessarily significant dates in pre-Islamic Arab society. Muhammead himself may not have known in what year he was born.

In any case, nobody would have cared about Muhammad's birth date until long after he was recognized as a prophet, perhaps not even until long after he had died. Only then would his followers have wanted to establish a year for his birth in order to institute a firm Islamic chronology. And what more appropient year could they have chosen than the Year of the Elephant?

Reza Aslan in "No god but God. The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam" from 2005