Groves of academeProfessor fired for saying Muslims and Christians worship same God

Entrance to the campus of Wheaton College // Source: wheaton.edu

Dr. Larycia Hawkins, a teacher of political science at Wheaton College in Illinois who has lost her job after claiming that Muslims and Christians worshipped the same God, has responded to her dismissal, saying she was “flummoxed and flabbergasted” by the decision to fire her. The college has placed her on administrative leave after she posted the comments on her Facebook page – but on Tuesday the college initiated termination proceedings, saying Hawkins had refused to take part in “clarifying conversations” about the theological issues raised in her Facebook post.

Hawkins, taking with reporters in a Wednesday press conference, said she would not be intimidated by the college’s action.

“Wheaton College cannot scare me into walking away from the truth that all humans — Muslims, the vulnerable, the oppressed of any ilk — are all my sisters and brothers, and I am called by Jesus to walk with them,” she said, according to the Religious News Service.

Hawkins is a Christian and has been a teacher at the college since 2007. The Facebook comments which raised the storm read: “I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.

“I stand in human solidarity with my Muslim neighbor because we are formed of the same primordial clay, descendants of the same cradle of humankind.”

The Independent reports that accompanying her post was a photograph she posted of herself wearing a hijab, a scarf worn by many Muslim women. Wheaton College is an evangelical protestant institution founded in 1860. It requires all staff to sign a document supporting its statement of faith. One of the tenets in the statement reads: “We believe in one sovereign God, eternally existing in three persons: the everlasting Father, His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and the Holy Spirit, the giver of life.”

The Chicago Tribune notes that since she joined the college’s teaching staff in 2007, Hawkins had been asked, on four different occasions, to affirm the college’s statement of faith. She was also asked to explain a paper she published on black liberation theology which, in the eyes of the provost, appeared to be endorsing Marxism.

The college statement referred to a “termination-for-cause,” but offered no details.

“Contrary to some media reports, social media activity and subsequent public perception, Dr. Hawkins’ paid administrative leave resulted from theological statements that seem inconsistent with Wheaton College’s doctrinal convictions, which she voluntarily agreed to support and uphold when she entered into an employment agreement with the College, and is in no way related to her race or gender,” the statement said.

The Independent notes that the professor’s dismissal has caused two competing Twitter campaigns to be launched. As of Wednesday, a change.org petition titled #ReinstateDocHawk had gathered more than 54,000 signatures. Those supporting Wheaton’s action took to #ThankYouWheaton.

Hawkins will have a hearing next month before the faculty personnel committee, which will make a recommendation to Wheaton President Philip Ryken.