Wheaton College Suspends Prof for remarks

[AJL]

Link: www.salon.com/2015/12/16/evangelical_college_suspends_tenured_professor_for_saying_christians_and_muslims_worship_the_same_god_echoing_pope/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

Evangelical college suspends tenured professor for saying Christians & Muslims “worship the same God,” echoing pope

An Evangelical Christian college suspended a tenured professor for insisting that Christians and Muslims “worship the same God,” echoing the pope.



Dr. Larycia Alaine Hawkins is an associate professor of political science at Wheaton College, an Evangelical private liberal arts school in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. She has taught at the school for seven years.

Last week, in the midst of a wave of anti-Muslim attacks and hate crimes, Hawkins announced that she would publicly wear a hijab, a traditional Islamic headscarf, in solidarity with Muslims during the Christian season of Advent.

Hawkins said she asked the leading Muslim civil rights organization the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) “whether a non-Muslim wearing the hijab was haram (forbidden), patronizing, or otherwise offensive to Muslims,” and noted she “was assured by my friends at CAIR-Chicago that they welcomed the gesture.”

“I don’t love my Muslim neighbor because s/he is American. I love my Muslim neighbor because s/he deserves love by virtue of her/his human dignity,” Hawkins wrote in a Dec. 10 Facebook post explaining her decision.

“I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book,” she added. “And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.”

“As I tell my students, theoretical solidarity is not solidarity at all,” Hawkins explained. “Thus, beginning tonight, my solidarity has become embodied solidarity.”

Hawkins’ act of inter-religious solidarity went viral, and was covered in a variety of news outlets.

Her school, on the other hand, was not enthused by Hawkins’ finding common cause with Muslims.

In response to Hawkins’ comments, Wheaten College released a statement Wednesday afternoon notifying the public that it had placed her on administrative leave. The Evangelical school cited “significant questions regarding the theological implications of statements … Hawkins has made about the relationship of Christianity to Islam” in justification of its decision.

Wheaten College could not be reached for further comment Wednesday night.

In 2006, Wheaten attracted controversy for firing Assistant Professor Joshua Hochschild for converting to Catholicism.

More recently, in 2012, the conservative Christian college also filed a lawsuit in opposition to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ mandate, under the Affordable Care Act, that the school must provide access to contraceptives in its health care plan or be subject to fines.

On Dec. 13, Hawkins wrote in another Facebook post that, since she began wearing the hijab to show solidarity with Muslims, she has “received pushback almost exclusively from other Christians.”

“The pushback has primarily centered on the claim that Christians and Muslims worship the same God,” she observed.

Hawkins pointed out that this position has been “held for centuries by countless Christians (church fathers, saints, and regular Christian folk like me),” and linked to an article exploring this question by Protestant theologian Miroslav Volf.

“Those of you who now count me apostate for daring to call fellow humans who happen to be Muslim my brothers and sisters,” Hawkins wrote, “I love you with the power of the love that saved me and keeps me and bids me do justice in my body.”

[Deleted]

Well, if they fired someone for converting to Catholicism, this doesn't surprise me.

[smock]

This is so baffling to me. I honestly had no idea that some Christians denied the fact that Christians and Muslims (and Jews!) are all worshipping the same God.

[debatethis]

Dec 16, 2015 9:27:26 GMT -5 smock said:

This is so baffling to me. I honestly had no idea that some Christians denied the fact that Christians and Muslims (and Jews!) are all worshipping the same God.

Many, if not most deny it. It's considered heresy.

And Wheaton has become a laughingstock. They also had their first openly gay on campus counselor resign last year and joined the anti ACA/birth control debacle.

[smock]

Dec 16, 2015 9:39:22 GMT -5 debatethis said:

Dec 16, 2015 9:27:26 GMT -5 smock said:

This is so baffling to me. I honestly had no idea that some Christians denied the fact that Christians and Muslims (and Jews!) are all worshipping the same God.

Many, if not most deny it. It's considered heresy.

I guess I've always thought of it from the Muslim side of the equation--Muhammad pretty clearly says he's worshipping the same God as the Christians. Of course it makes sense that Christians would see denying Jesus' sanctity as heresy, but I assumed they acknowledged that historically Muslims were worshipping the same God. Huh.

[debatethis]

Dec 16, 2015 9:48:55 GMT -5 smock said:

Dec 16, 2015 9:39:22 GMT -5 debatethis said:

Many, if not most deny it. It's considered heresy.

I guess I've always thought of it from the Muslim side of the equation--Muhammad pretty clearly says he's worshipping the same God as the Christians. Of course it makes sense that Christians would see denying Jesus' sanctity as heresy, but I assumed they acknowledged that historically Muslims were worshipping the same God. Huh.

Key word, there, lol. There's not a lot of study of history among many branches of American Christianity (or Americans in general, it seems).

[Deleted]

Sounds like an excuse to push back against someone who is political and who they don't like

[Deleted]

^ I always thought each religion considered themselves the "true" version of the same thing and that the others were basically misguided because they only had partial revelation.

[smock]

Dec 16, 2015 9:58:32 GMT -5 debatethis said:

Dec 16, 2015 9:48:55 GMT -5 smock said:

I guess I've always thought of it from the Muslim side of the equation--Muhammad pretty clearly says he's worshipping the same God as the Christians. Of course it makes sense that Christians would see denying Jesus' sanctity as heresy, but I assumed they acknowledged that historically Muslims were worshipping the same God. Huh.

Key word, there, lol. There's not a lot of study of history among many branches of American Christianity (or Americans in general, it seems).

Ha, good point. I taught a class on the Reformation and I was shocked at how little my students knew about the history of religion. Which, actually, isn't all that shocking when you consider how little they know about most of history. 

[kirra]

Dec 16, 2015 10:06:16 GMT -5 smock said:

Dec 16, 2015 9:58:32 GMT -5 debatethis said:

Key word, there, lol. There's not a lot of study of history among many branches of American Christianity (or Americans in general, it seems).

Ha, good point. I taught a class on the Reformation and I was shocked at how little my students knew about the history of religion. Which, actually, isn't all that shocking when you consider how little they know about most of history. 

I've met a decent number of Christians who don't believe Jews worship the same God because they don't believe in Jesus, so they only worship part of the trinity. They know nothing about Christian history, and damn little about theology.

[lauralala]

Dec 16, 2015 10:30:38 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

My fundie light church thought other types of Protestants were wrong and going to hell. They sure as FUCK didn't think Muslims were worshipping the same God.

Interesting - the denomination I grew up in thought the same thing.

I do wonder if this professor knew this would blow up like this. She is right, obviously, but she knew the type of place she was teaching, and had to know how this would be received. 

[saz]

Dec 16, 2015 10:30:38 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

My fundie light church thought other types of Protestants were wrong and going to hell. They sure as FUCK didn't think Muslims were worshipping the same God.

Ditto! Entertaining to think about now. My grandpa has literally said  "Oh they are a Methodist, they believe in salvation by works so they aren't really saved." uh what?

[msmerymac]

Dec 16, 2015 9:39:22 GMT -5 debatethis said:

Dec 16, 2015 9:27:26 GMT -5 smock said:

This is so baffling to me. I honestly had no idea that some Christians denied the fact that Christians and Muslims (and Jews!) are all worshipping the same God.

Many, if not most deny it. It's considered heresy.

And Wheaton has become a laughingstock. They also had their first openly gay on campus counselor resign last year and joined the anti ACA/birth control debacle.

I certainly wouldn't say most. I think most mainline protestant denominations acknowledge it, and some even work closely with interfaith efforts. I certainly learned about the relationship of the Abrahamic religions in my Catholic high school. 

Evangelicals are a whole 'nother thing, though unfortunately they are the area of Christianity that is actually growing in the US.

[lurkingdobalina]

I thought Wheaton College was in New England. Huh. It was on oldest niece's list for something, I don't think she knew it was evangelical.

[lilafowler]

Dec 16, 2015 11:14:57 GMT -5 lurkingdobalina said:

I thought Wheaton College was in New England. Huh. It was on oldest niece's list for something, I don't think she knew it was evangelical.

There is a Wheaton in MA. Not the same school.

[mominatrix]

Dec 16, 2015 9:39:22 GMT -5 debatethis said:

Dec 16, 2015 9:27:26 GMT -5 smock said:

This is so baffling to me. I honestly had no idea that some Christians denied the fact that Christians and Muslims (and Jews!) are all worshipping the same God.

Many, if not most deny it. It's considered heresy.

And Wheaton has become a laughingstock. They also had their first openly gay on campus counselor resign last year and joined the anti ACA/birth control debacle.

I went to the OTHER college of the same name, and whenever one of these articles appears, I feel the value of my degree going down.

[mominatrix]

Dec 16, 2015 11:14:57 GMT -5 lurkingdobalina said:

I thought Wheaton College was in New England. Huh. It was on oldest niece's list for something, I don't think she knew it was evangelical.

I went there, and it was an amazing school. The campus is stunning, the faculty are amazing and (more importantly) thoroughly accessible, the school's values are fantastic.

[Deleted]

I remember when I worked at Yellowstone and there was a group of fundamentalist Christians working there. They were very nice and friendly. When they asked if I was Christian, I said I believed in Jesus but I thought other prophets/holy men (Mohammed, Buddha, etc) could have just as much importance and authority. I was told very strongly that I am definitely not Christian. At the time that completely surprised me. But I figured from that conversation that if someone wants to fixate on the semantics instead of the broader implications of doing good in the world, then I'm not too worried about not belonging to the club.

[AJL]

Dec 16, 2015 10:02:44 GMT -5 CheeringCharm said:

^ I always thought each religion considered themselves the "true" version of the same thing and that the others were basically misguided because they only had partial revelation.

I don't know about Islam or Christianity, but that's definitely not the case with Judaism. Judaism does have its own infighting among the movements (i.e. Ultra Orthodox think all other Jews are not really Jewish, etc.) but we don't believe we're the "true" version of anything. We believe that for Jews belong to Judaism. 

[downtoearth]

So, this doesn't violate any termination/suspension legal issues because it's a religiously affiliated, private college, right?

I am baffled that suspending someone for a different interpretation of religion and/or showing support for another religion at a Christian university isn't illegal.

[debatethis]

Dec 16, 2015 12:55:58 GMT -5 mominatrix said:

Dec 16, 2015 9:39:22 GMT -5 debatethis said:

Many, if not most deny it. It's considered heresy.

And Wheaton has become a laughingstock. They also had their first openly gay on campus counselor resign last year and joined the anti ACA/birth control debacle.

I went to the OTHER college of the same name, and whenever one of these articles appears, I feel the value of my degree going down.

This particular Wheaton is on my resume. I am trying to decide how valuable the line item is because I want no part of any affiliation with them anymore.

[LoveTrains]

Dec 16, 2015 12:59:30 GMT -5 mominatrix said:

Dec 16, 2015 11:14:57 GMT -5 lurkingdobalina said:

I thought Wheaton College was in New England. Huh. It was on oldest niece's list for something, I don't think she knew it was evangelical.

I went there, and it was an amazing school. The campus is stunning, the faculty are amazing and (more importantly) thoroughly accessible, the school's values are fantastic.

It was founded to provide women with a world class education!!

[epphd]

I honestly chuckle a little bit about one religious group getting offended at the implication that another worships the same god. As though (a) anyone can know whether they are wrong or right and (b) god would care. If you as a Christian or Muslim person are doing those things that your set of beliefs compel you to do, why does it matter if someone else worships the same unprovable force? I mean, I "get" that one would take issue with HOW another does it, but it's like arguing whether the red I see is the same as the red you see. YOU CAN'T KNOW AND WHO CARES? And as an atheist, to me it's more like a kid getting upset that another kid's Santa wears different clothes.

[sparkythelawyer]

I love two blocks from this school. They have never been a progressive force in Christian education. They only started allowing dancing on campus like five years ago. I'm not surprised they handled this so poorly.

[debatethis]

Dec 16, 2015 22:09:13 GMT -5 sparkythelawyer said:

I love two blocks from this school. They have never been a progressive force in Christian education. They only started allowing dancing on campus like five years ago. I'm not surprised they handled this so poorly.

Compared to many  other Christian colleges, Wheaton has been almost liberal in their approach to higher ed. What may feel very conservative to the outside world is still pretty progressive (at least for Evangelicals), and they were founded by abolitionists. The fact that they allow students of different sexes to interact freely and allow women to lead congregations/school functions is almost unheard of in many denominational schools (see: Bob Jones, Pensacola Christian, etc).

Many, many Christian colleges require chaperons and/or parental approval before dating, have lists of approved and banned music, heavily restrict internet and social media access, require hair and strict uniform guidelines,  don't allow social interactions/dancing with members of the opposite sex, etc.

The college I attended, as well as Biola and many other colleges still don't allow dancing.

All of that said, Wheaton has done almost a complete 180 from some of their more progressive stances over the years, and it's appalling.

[wise_rita]

A religious school has some something awful. I am SHOCKED. Shocked!

[mominatrix]

Dec 16, 2015 11:14:57 GMT -5 lurkingdobalina said:

I thought Wheaton College was in New England. Huh. It was on oldest niece's list for something, I don't think she knew it was evangelical.

My Wheaton's president just issued a statement.

wheatoncollege.edu/president/2015/12/16/affirming-freedom/