Reza Aslan – Biography, Wife, Education, Why Was He Fired From CNN?

Reza Aslan is an Iranian-American religious scholar, writer, social commentator/activist, television host, and producer. He is the author of several books on religion and is a member of the American Academy of Religion and several other associations of religious scholars.

Aslan is well read in the fields of creative writing, religious studies, and international relations and as a result, he has held various positions in this regard. He is a professor of creative writing at the University of California and also sits on the advisory board of the National Iranian American Council. Aslan regularly collaborates with many media. In 2017, he directed a short-lived religious documentary series. Believer on CNN.

Biography of Reza Aslan, Education

Reza Aslan was born in Tehran, Iran on May 3, 1972. His family fled their native country in 1979 due to the Iranian revolution. He was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area of ​​California. Born into a Shia Muslim family, Aslan converted to Christianity when he was 15 and later came to Islam as a young adult.

Aslan attended Del Mar High School and graduated in 1990. For college, he attended Santa Clara University in California and earned a BA degree in Biblical Studies. He holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Fiction Writing from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. He also earned a doctorate in sociology from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Over the years, Reza Aslan has served in various religious and literary organizations, including Drew University’s Center for Religion, Culture and Conflict, Council on Foreign Relations, Pacific Council for International Policy, World Conference Religions for Peace, Chicago Theological Seminary and Yale Humanist Community. He has published several books, including across different religious divides, including A God Other Than God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam (2005), How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the end of the terror (2009) and Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth (2014).

In 2009, he founded the media company ‘Aslan Media’ which aims to provide holistic coverage of the Middle East as well as its diaspora communities across the world. Reza Aslan also collaborated with Iranian American filmmaker and film producer Mahyad Tousi to establish BoomGen Studios, a production company with the goal of bringing stories from the Middle East to American audiences.

As a social commentator, Aslan has appeared on several radio and television network programs including Anderson Cooper 360°, GPS Fareed Zakaria, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and many more. His most notable media presence of recent times has been in the documentary series Believer, a “spiritual journey series” through which he introduced the traditions of different religious sects to a wider audience. Aslan began production on the first season of Believer in 2015 and first appeared on CNN in March 2017.

Why was he fired from CNN?

The first season of Reza Aslan’s Believer on CNN was quite successful although it generated a lot of controversy. Among other allegations, the religious scholar was allegedly accused of spreading misconceptions about common stereotypes and even casting a dim view on certain religious sects. These controversies, however, did not prevent the network from pursuing a second season of the series with Aslan.

Aslan finally met his Waterloo when he made profane statements on social media against US President Donald Trump following the June 2017 London Bridge attack. ultimately cost him his job with CNN. On June 9, 2017, the network announced the cancellation of the Aslan transaction. Believer series as well as his decision to sever ties with the scholar.

wife, family

Reza Aslan is married to socialite Jessica Jackley, academic, investor, and entrepreneurship writer. Although Muslim, Aslan’s wife, Jackley, is a Christian and this beautiful interfaith marital union began in March 2011. The couple have remained inseparable ever since and they have three children together; two twin sons born in 2012 and a younger son born in 2015.