American journalist and musician
Lauren Susan Green
(born June 30, 1958) is the Chief Religion Correspondent for
Fox News
.
[2]
[3]
Previously she was a headline anchor giving weekday updates at the top and bottom of the hour during
morning television show
Fox & Friends
. She has also appeared as a guest panelist on Fox's late-night satire show
Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld
. She is the first African-American Miss Minnesota.
Early life
[
edit
]
Green was born to Robert and Bessie Grissam Green in
Minneapolis
. She has two sisters, Barbara and Lois, and two brothers, Leslie and Kenneth.
[1]
In an interview with Bill O'Reilly she admitted that when she was in the sixth grade,
Prince
had a crush on her, called her to say "I like you", and she hung up on him.
[4]
She later appeared in the music video for Prince's 1992 song
My Name Is Prince
, playing a news anchor and using her own name of Lauren Green. She won the
Miss Minnesota
pageant in 1984, and was third runner-up in the
Miss America 1985
pageant.
Green earned her
Bachelor of Music
in piano performance from the
University of Minnesota
in 1980, then attended graduate school at the
Medill School of Journalism
at
Northwestern University
.
[3]
[5]
Green is a practicing Christian and was raised in the
African Methodist Episcopal Church
.
[6]
Interview with Reza Aslan
[
edit
]
In 2011, Green asked whether Islam "makes believers more susceptible to radicalization."
[6]
After a 2013 interview with Iranian-American scholar
Reza Aslan
(who was then promoting his new book,
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
), she received considerable criticism for her questions. Green questioned why a Muslim would write about Jesus, saying, "You're a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?"
[7]
Aslan defended his credentials several times throughout, and clearly stated that his interest was scholarly. Green continued to press him on the same matters, appearing to some not to take his explanation on face value.
Erik Wemple
of
The Washington Post
disparaged Green's questions as "dumb, loaded, and prejudicial," calling for the Fox News Channel to apologize to Aslan.
[8]
Daniel Politi of
Slate
speculated that the interview was possibly "the single most cringe-worthy, embarrassing interview on Fox News [...] in recent memory."
[9]
Matthew J. Franck criticized Aslan for his claim of a degree in the history of religions, as he teaches
creative writing
and holds a
PhD
in
Sociology of Religion
rather than a degree in history.
[
citation needed
]
[10]
In the interview, Aslan clearly stated that "anyone who thinks this book is an attack on Christianity has not read it yet."
[6]
Music
[
edit
]
In 2004, Green released an album called
Classic Beauty
consisting of
classical
piano music.
[11]
Green also played keyboards for
Mike Huckabee
's band The Little Rockers on the
Fox News
program
Huckabee
.
In January 2014 Green performed in the 90th birthday concert for
Georg Ratzinger
, the brother of
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
, who was also in attendance. She described this in an opinion piece written for Fox News as "the honor of a lifetime."
[12]
COVID-19 pandemic
[
edit
]
Throughout the
COVID-19 pandemic
, Green advocated for churches who defied court orders to stop large gatherings.
[13]
An editorial written by her, and published by
Fox News
on March 15 featured a stock photo of people holding hands when CDC guidelines at the time advised against it. The article called washing hands, sanitizing homes, and practicing social distancing a "temporary or flimsy barrier to a raging tsunami" and said "To close the churches where people go for comfort and spiritual strength ? as an act of fighting against this biological scourge ? seems like a surrender to Satan."
[14]
Green interviewed Louisiana pastor Tony Spell for a
Fox News
piece in which she argued that "The fundamental right to freedom of religion in the United States is
sacrosanct
." In Green's piece Spell claimed the church closings were politically motivated, and that through faith his church members had been "healed of HIV and cancer -- diseases [that are] bigger than COVID-19."
[15]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
"Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-2002"
. Ancestry.com
. Retrieved
November 27,
2010
.
- ^
"Opinion - Commentary from Lauren Green"
.
Fox News
. April 22, 2011.
- ^
a
b
Lauren Green bio
, Fox News Network, accessed November 8, 2013.
- ^
"O'Reilly - FOXNews.com"
.
www.foxnews.com
. Archived from
the original
on 2010-04-30.
- ^
Distinguished Visitor Series: Lauren Green
on
YouTube
, The King's College (New York), October 27, 2009, accessed July 28, 2013.
- ^
a
b
c
Murphy, Dan (July 28, 2013).
"Can Muslims write about Christianity?"
.
The Christian Science Monitor
. Retrieved
April 4,
2016
.
- ^
Paul Waldman (July 29, 2013).
"Christian Identity Politics on Fox"
.
The American Prospect
. Retrieved
December 31,
2014
.
- ^
Wemple, Erik (July 29, 2013).
"Fox News must apologize to Reza Aslan"
.
The Washington Post
. Retrieved
April 4,
2016
.
- ^
Politi, Daniel (July 28, 2013).
"Fox News to Scholar: Why Would a Muslim Write a Book About Jesus?"
.
Slate
. Retrieved
July 28,
2013
.
- ^
Graham, David A. (July 29, 2013).
"Is Muslim Academic Reza Aslan More Biased Than a Christian Scholar?"
.
Atlantic
. Retrieved
April 24,
2014
.
- ^
David Freedlander (2013-07-30).
"Lauren Green, the Woman Behind Fox News' Reza Aslan Interview Debacle"
.
The Daily Beast
. Retrieved
2013-08-04
.
- ^
Lauren Green (2014-01-17).
"Honor of a lifetime -- performing at the Vatican for Pope Benedict, his brother"
. Fox News
. Retrieved
2014-01-19
.
- ^
"Why Some Churches Are Defying Bans on Gatherings"
.
Fox News
. 27 March 2020.
- ^
"This is the power of a National Day of Prayer"
.
Fox News
. 15 March 2020.
- ^
"Lauren Green: Coronavirus crisis -- Why some churches are defying bans on gathering"
.
Fox News
. 27 March 2020.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Anchors
| |
---|
Hosts
| |
---|
Correspondents
and reporters
| |
---|
Contributors
and analysts
| |
---|
Meteorologists
| |
---|
Past hosts
| |
---|
Past correspondents
and reporters
| |
---|
Past contributors
and analysts
| |
---|