Reza Aslan in conversation with Amy Wilentz
at the
Los Angeles Central Library
May 4, 2009 at 7 pm

The Center for Global Understanding (CFGU) is proud to co-present with ALOUD, Reza Aslan in converesation with Amy Wilentz at the Los Angeles Central Library's Mark Taper Auditorium on May 4, 2009 at 7 pm. Reza will be presenting his new book "How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization and the End of the War on Terror". Admission is FREE.

In No God But God: The Origins, Evolution, And Future Of Islam, award-winning author and scholar of religions Reza Aslan challenged the “clash of civilizations” mentality that has distorted our view of Islam. Aslan now takes this argument one step further calling for the new American Administration to put an end to the so-called "War on Terror," and instead focus its efforts not only on defeating al-Qaeda militants, but also on confronting the global social movement behind al-Qaeda—a movement properly termed Jihadism. According to Aslan, by adopting the same religiously polarizing language, the same “clash of civilizations” mentality, and the same apocalyptic worldview as the Jihadists, the U.S. has transformed the War on Terror into what he calls a cosmic war—a war that can’t be won..

A cosmic war is a religious war. It is a battle not between armies or nations, but between the forces of good and evil. In HOW TO WIN A COSMIC WAR: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror (Random House Hardcover; On Sale: April 21, 2009), Aslan studies both the ideology fueling al-Qa‘ida, the Taliban, and like-minded militants throughout the Muslim world, and he explores the tradition of religious violence found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Surveying the global scene from Israel to Iraq and from New York to the Netherlands, Aslan argues that religion is a stronger force today than it has been in a century. At a time when religion and politics are increasingly sharing the same vocabulary and functioning in the same sphere, Aslan writes that we must strip the conflicts of our world—in particular, the War on Terror—of their religious connotations and address the earthly grievances that always lie behind the cosmic impulse. How do you win a cosmic war? By refusing to fight in one.

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