Reza Aslan the apologist

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Sep 28, 2013 at 05:28

Dear Dr Pipes, the moderates in most religions observe and mention the faults of their religions. The islamic moderates are a little different. They present veiled defenses of Islam and, whenever possible, don't hesitate to take shots at other religions. The famous Indian painter M.F. Hussain was one such person. He took the liberty of creating nude paintings of Hindu goddesses. He was a moderate muslim because he did the haram act of painting nude female forms but he did so by paining nude forms of Hindu Goddesses.

Our own Harvard educated apologist Reza Aslan is at it in his own way. After arguing for a liberal interpretation of Islam in 'No god but God' and winning worldwide praise and publicity, Reza made a mission for himself to debunk all myths about Jesus. Just writing a book on Jesus is not enough (zealot); he has made it a mission. In today's washington post, Aslan continues with his demolishing myths about Jesus: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-jesus/2013/09/26/b08e8272-1c98-11e3-82ef-a059e54c49d0_story.html. In this article Aslan informs us that Jesus was not an only child but had . Thanks Aslan for letting us know that Mary cannot be a virgin five times over.

When people belonging to one religion go about debunking the myths of other religions, I am forced to question their motives. As a non-Christian, the truth about Jesus is least important to me. I only appreciate the myth that Christians associate with Jesus and the good that myth brings to them and to the world. Aslan's writing on Islam and his persistence on writing about Jesus proves to me that Aslan is an Islamic moderate in the tradition of M.F. Hussain or not a moderate at all.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".