one of our guests tonight author reza aslan is on the program this evening. we'll pick off where we left off last night with the united states congress. if you tuned in you might have seen this how this, the 113th congress is perhaps the worst congress -- [ laughter ] -- in the history of not just this nation -- [laughter] -- so we thought we would check in on what today's congressional (bleep)ry was what do they do today? pass a resolution demanding preapproval of all presidential handshakes? [laughter] refuse to vote on anything except whether to add cronuts to the congressional brunch. [laughter] sitting around saying that sax by chambliss is an acceptable name. it's not. it's not okay. it's just not okay. [laughter] my apologies to apologies to ths family. what is congress up to? congress may be ready to call a truce in the budget wars. >> a bipartisan budget deal has been reached to avoid another government shutdown. [ laughter ] [laughter] >> jon: deal? deal? what type of witchcraft is this? deal? the elders have spoken of such wonders but i thought lik

back with me is reza aslan and bill donahue. reza, you are a biblical scholar and written about the history and origins of jesus christ. you believe he was emphatically not white? >> gjesus was mediterranean and middle eastern. he had brown skin. he was probably hairy and had a larger nose. but the point i was making earlier was that what megan kelly is talking about is jesus the christ. the christ is white as far as megan kelly is concerned. he has been an infinitely malleable character. when crow go to china, the christ is chinese. when you go to india i have seen pictures in which christ is blue as though he is a hindu god because as a character, as a spiritual character, he is always fit himself into whatever a particular community of faith wants him to be. if you are a white suburban american, then your christ is white and suburban and american. but the jesus of history was most definitely not white. >> so listen, bill, same thing. when i say the popular depiction of jesus is a white guy with the beard who looks like he is

please welcome back to the program reza aslan. [cheers and applause] >> all right. all right. >> jon: reza i just want to be clear you are a muslim. >> shhh. >> jon: why would you write a book on the sphownder of christianity. >> this is my secret muslim plan to destroy christianity. >> jon: i don't know if you remember this you went on fox and the lady was asking the questions and i was looking at it like oh, my god reza is going to strange this will person. >> i did okay. >> jon: you did wonderful. it was incredible. the book is so good. >> thank you. the perfect christmas gift for your jewish friends. [laughter] >> jon: yes. there's nothing we like better around this time of year. [ laughter ] nice picture of him looking judgmentally at us. nice menorah. yeah, hey, enjoy your potato latkes. [laughter] how are you doing otherwise? these are very exciting times for iran. >> absolutely. this nuclear deal has really changed the atmosphere in iran. so much excitement over it. frankly, a little too much excitement over it because it's not really that big of a dmeel so

one of our guests tonight author reza aslan is on the program this evening. we'll pick off where we left off last night with the united states congress. if you tuned in you might have seen this how this, the 113th congress is perhaps the worst congress -- [ laughter ] -- in the history of not just this nation -- [laughter] -- so we thought we would check in on what today's congressional (bleep)ry was what do they do today? pass a resolution demanding preapproval of all presidential handshakes? [laughter] refuse to vote on anything except whether to add cronuts to the congressional brunch. [laughter] sitting around saying that sax by chambliss is an acceptable name. it's not. it's not okay. it's just not okay. [laughter] my apologies to apologies to ths family. what is congress up to? congress may be ready to call a truce in the budget wars. >> a bipartisan budget deal has been reached to avoid another government shutdown. [ laughter ] [laughter] >> jon: deal? deal? what type of witchcraft is this? deal? the elders have spoken of such wonders but i thought lik

that fox news interview with santa clara grad reza aslan helped propel his book about jess us into sales gold. as for as lan, he's now a muslim. he wasn't always. in high school in san jose, he converted to christianity. the jesuits at santa clara helped him return to his muslim roots. >> the santa clara still close to your heart? >> it made me who i am today. not just academically but as a human being. it was the jesuits who taught me how to understand who jesus was. it was the jess youities who encouraged me to go back to islam. it was the jesuits who taught me the core principle of social justice and that everything that i do, no matter what it is in my teaching, in my writing, in my activism is focused on the central message of jesus's. >> as lan was born in iran, grew up in san jose and now is a professor at uc riverside. we want to thank all of our guests for their time tonight. thank you for joining us. we hope to he sue you on monday. good night. lights, camera, access. ♪ >> 100 plus a day, a full time trainer and a no carb diet. kim sheds 50 poundsx(Ñ to get h body back after