in "zealot" aslan makes some highly controversial assertions. for instance, he portrays jesus as a revolutionary whose mission was to overthrow roman rule and who may have condoned violence to do it. kim lawton talked with aslan about his book and the controversy surrounding it. >> hi. how are you? >> good. how are you? thank you so much. >> thank you for coming. >> best-selling author reza aslan claims he didn't set out to challenge anyone's faith in jesus christ. he says the intention of his provocative book, "zealot: the life and times of jesus of nazareth," was to explore who jesus was apart from what theology and tradition have said. >> this attempt to dig through as much as possible the layers of legend and mythology, of interpretation and faith that have arisen around jesus the christ and to get to jesus the man is i think important not just for the historian but i think also for the person of faith. >> many believers have been offended at aslan's portrait of jesus as a zealous revolutionary who ultimately failed in his mission to liberat

aslan was is now a muim.h school he converted to ristian. >> santa clara universit made meho i am today. i mean that as a human being. theyaught me how to understand who jesus was. it was the jesuits who encourage me to go go bk to islam. it was the jesuits who taughte the core principle of social justice and everything that i do, no matter what it is, is focused on the central message of jesus. >> aslan was born in iran, grew up in san jose and now is a profes oret uc riverse. want to tha all of our guests for their time tight and thank all of you for watching. we hope to see you on monday. good night. [ wind howli ] [ female annouer ] it balances you... [ water crasng ] ...ifills you with energy... and itives you what you are looki for toive a more natural life. in a convenient two bar pack. this is nature valley... delicious granolbars made with the best ingredien in nature. nature valley. nature at its most delicus. >>> alec balin stalker held i contempt. miley ligs up at the ems. and did this m ase camle

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the growth of the arab population and this in a diverse electorate of jews christians and arabs port aslan i reports he's refusing to back down. what my goal is to have as few arabs as possible blunt direct and a virtually racist shit from a shop or ninety five percent of mayors think the same but only five percent will say it to the media i'm sorry i'm the only one who does so by have to stay true to what i believe should one capsule has never shied away from controversy the mayor of nazareth elite is known for building neighborhoods for jewish citizens only banning christmas trees from schools and boasting that he's stopped the arab population in the city from growing among his friends he comes prime minister benjamin netanyahu and now he's just been reelected for another term in office if you notice israel is first a jewish state and then a democracy the same goes for nazareth illit anyone can live here if they think there will ever be a churchill mosque they can keep on dreaming but nazareth elite is in fact an ethnically mixed city one in five of its residents is arab it borders the b