More popular than Jesus in all of us." Adamant that he was not comparing himself with Christ, he tried to explain the decline of Christianity in the UK. Pressed for an apology by a reporter, he said: "if you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then OK, I'm sorry." Journalists gave a sympathetic response, and told Lennon that the Bible Belt were "quite notorious for their Christian attitude". When the tour began, it was marred by protests and disturbances. Telephone threats were received, and concerts were picketed by the Ku Klux Klan. "Daily Express" writer Robert Pitman, responding to the
Jesus in Islam the Quranic palm tree. Ali ibn al-Athir (d. 1233), an Arab or Kurdish historian and biographer, reported in "The Perfection of History (al-Kamil)", a work which became a standard for later Muslims, that Joseph the carpenter had a more prominent role, but is not mentioned as a relative or husband of Mary. Al-Athir writes about how Jesus as a young boy helped to detect a thief and bringing a boy back to life which Jesus was accused of having killed. That work mentions a version of the birth narrative having taken place in Egypt without mention of a manger under