CNN host under fire for eating human brain in first episode of new show 'Believer'

Television personality and religious scholar Reza Aslan sampled cooked human brain tissue with cannibals in India in the first episode of CNN's new "Believer" series exploring "fascinating faith-based groups" around the world.

Aslan, 44, plugged his experience with the Aghori, a small Hindu sect known for its extreme rituals, on Facebook on Sunday night before the show aired.

"Want to know what a dead guy's brain tastes like? Charcoal," Aslan wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday. "It was burnt to a crisp! #Believer."

Outrage immediately followed. Some attacked Aslan, a Muslim who was born in Iran and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, for choosing to portray the most extreme form of Hinduism for shock value. Hindu leaders and groups condemned the show for focusing on a fringe form of Hinduism presenting a negative picture of the overall religion.

Religious scholar Reza Aslan is the host of CNN's new show "Believer," a six episode series exploring "the world's most fascinating faith-based groups." Religious scholar Reza Aslan is the host of CNN's new show "Believer," a six episode series exploring "the world's most fascinating faith-based groups." Photo: Hilary Jones, Random House Photo: Hilary Jones, Random House Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close CNN host under fire for eating human brain in first episode of new show 'Believer' 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A statement from the US India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) opined that the Angholi's provide an inaccurate look at Hinduism.

"Most Hindus are vegetarians and uphold non-violence," the statement read. "With multiple reports of hate-fueled attacks against people of Indian origin from across the US, the show characterizes Hinduism as cannibalistic, which is a bizarre way of looking at the third largest religion in the world."

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu member of Congress, wrote on Twitter: "While good people across our country are working hard to increase mutual understanding and respect between people of different religions, I am very disturbed that CNN is using its power and influence to increase people's misunderstanding and fear of Hinduism."

"When we are witnessing intolerant attacks on minorities, telecasting this serial will add more misrepresentation, bias and may lead more hate crimes," Khanderao Kand, a community leader known for eradicating misrepresentation of Hinduism in California text books in 2004, told the Times of India.

On the show, Aslan makes clear that the Anghori are a "small movement" and their members engage in "ostentatious displays of defilement." He also reiterated this in a lengthy response to the controversy on Facebook, writing that he stated "on camera and in voice-over" that the Aghori "are not representative of Hinduism, but are instead an extreme Hindu sect who reject the fundamental Hindu distinction between purity and pollution."

Aslan, who came to the United States in 1979 after fleeing the Iranian Revolution, has Bay Area ties. In addition to spending some of his childhood in the region, he attended Santa Clara University, earning a BA in religious studies. He went on to earn three more degrees, including a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard University with a history of religions, and write a New York Times best-seller, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.