--- title: "1 Beyond belief Quotes By Reza Aslan" description: "1 Beyond belief quotes by Reza Aslan. Plus more from Reza Aslan and more Beyond belief sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cd/reza-aslan-2665_beyond-belief_according-to-mark-it-was-a-custom-of-the_2167529.png" --- > [“According to Mark, it was a custom of the Roman governor during the feast of Passover to release one prisoner to the Jews, anyone for whom they asked. When Pilate asks the crowd which prisoner they would like to have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/according-to-mark-it-was-a-custom-of-the-roman-governor-during-the/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cd/reza-aslan-2665_beyond-belief_according-to-mark-it-was-a-custom-of-the_2167529.png) ## More by Reza Aslan > [“Despite two millennia of Christian apologetics, the fact is that belief in a dying and rising messiah simply did not exist in Judaism. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/despite-two-millennia-of-christian-apologetics-the-fact-is-that/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) > [Should I act violently in defense of my religion, absolutely.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/should-i-act-violently-in-defense-of-my-religion-absolutely/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) > [Religion doesn't make people bigots. People are bigots and they use religion to justify their ideology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/religion-doesn-t-make-people-bigots-people-are-bigots-and-they-use/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) > [“Scattered across the Roman Empire, it was only natural for the gospel writers to distance themselves from the Jewish independence movement by erasing, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/scattered-across-the-roman-empire-it-was-only-natural-for-the-gospel/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) > [“There is a term for this phenomenon—politicomorphism, or “the divinization of earthly politics”—and it is, to this day, one of the central features of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/there-is-a-term-for-this-phenomenon-politicomorphism-or-the/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) > [Obama has been the single worst president in modern American history in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/obama-has-been-the-single-worst-president-in-modern-american-history/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) > [There's no question that homophobia is rampant among the world's 1.5 billion Muslims - but that doesn't negate the fact that there are huge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/there-s-no-question-that-homophobia-is-rampant-among-the-world-s-1-5/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) > [Well, to be clear, I am a scholar of religions with four degrees, including one in the New Testament and fluency in Biblical Greek…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/well-to-be-clear-i-am-a-scholar-of-religions-with-four-degrees/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) > [“There would be no more record of who was rich and who was poor. Everyone in this new and divinely inspired world order would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/there-would-be-no-more-record-of-who-was-rich-and-who-was-poor/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) > [My biography of Jesus is probably the first popular biography that does not use the New Testament as its primary source material.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/my-biography-of-jesus-is-probably-the-first-popular-biography-that/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) > [The Islamic Reformation is already here. We are all living in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/the-islamic-reformation-is-already-here-we-are-all-living-in-it/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) > [“Pilate, as the histories reveal, was not one for trials. In his ten years as governor of Jerusalem, he had sent thousands upon thousands…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/pilate-as-the-histories-reveal-was-not-one-for-trials-in-his-ten/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) > [Is it possible that Jesus, unlike 98 percent of his fellow Jews, was literate and educated? Yes, it's possible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/is-it-possible-that-jesus-unlike-98-percent-of-his-fellow-jews-was/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) > [“The choice between James’s vision of a Jewish religion anchored in the Law of Moses and derived from a Jewish nationalist who fought against…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/the-choice-between-james-s-vision-of-a-jewish-religion-anchored-in/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) > [“Paul's portrayal of Jesus as Christ may sound familiar to contemporary Christians—it has since become the standard doctrine of the church—but it would have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/paul-s-portrayal-of-jesus-as-christ-may-sound-familiar-to/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beyond-belief/reza-aslan/#itemlist", "name": "1 Beyond belief Quotes By Reza Aslan", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“According to Mark, it was a custom of the Roman governor during the feast of Passover to release one prisoner to the Jews, anyone for whom they asked. When Pilate asks the crowd which prisoner they would like to have released—Jesus, the preacher and traitor to Rome, or bar Abbas, the insurrectionist and murderer—the crowd demands the release of the insurrectionist and the crucifixion of the preacher. \"Why?\" Pilate asks, pained at the thought of having to put an innocent Jewish peasant to death. “What evil has he done?” But the crowd shouts all the louder for Jesus’s death. \"Crucify him! Crucify him!\" (Mark 15:1–20). The scene is absolutely nonsensical. Never mind that outside the gospels there exists not a shred of historical evidence for any such Passover custom on the part of any Roman governor. What is truly beyond belief is the portrayal of Pontius Pilate—a man renowned for his loathing of the Jews, his total disregard for Jewish rituals and customs, and his penchant for absentmindedly signing so many execution orders that a formal complaint was lodged against him in Rome—spending even a moment of his time pondering the fate of yet another Jewish rabble-rouser.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Reza Aslan" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/according-to-mark-it-was-a-custom-of-the-roman-governor-during-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cd/reza-aslan-2665_beyond-belief_according-to-mark-it-was-a-custom-of-the_2167529.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cd/reza-aslan-2665_beyond-belief_according-to-mark-it-was-a-custom-of-the_2167529.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cd/reza-aslan-2665_beyond-belief_according-to-mark-it-was-a-custom-of-the_2167529.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“According to Mark, it was a custom of the Roman governor during the feast of Passover to release one…” — Reza Aslan", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beyond-belief/reza-aslan/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beyond-belief/reza-aslan/", "name": "Beyond belief Quotes by Reza Aslan", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beyond-belief/reza-aslan/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cd/reza-aslan-2665_beyond-belief_according-to-mark-it-was-a-custom-of-the_2167529.png" }, "description": "1 Beyond belief quotes by Reza Aslan. 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