Wheaton College has begun the process of removing Dr. Larycia Hawkins, a tenured associate professor of political science, over her comments that Muslims and Christians “worship the same God.” The college insists, as per its mission statement, that the Christian God is different than the Muslim God, and that it offered Dr. Hawkins time to come to this realization before moving against her.

“While Islam and Christianity are both monotheistic, Wheaton College believes there are fundamental differences between the two faiths, including what they teach about God’s revelation to humanity, the nature of God, the path to salvation, and the life of prayer,” LaTonya Taylor, director of media relations at Wheaton, told PJ Media in an email statement.

Wheaton Suspends Dr. Hawkins

On December 10, 2015, Dr. Hawkins posted a photo of herself wearing a hijab on Facebook. She spoke about standing “in human solidarity with my Muslim neighbor because we are formed of the same primordial clay, descendants of the same cradle of humankind.” She emphasized that “I love my Muslim neighbor because s/he deserves love by virtue of her/his human dignity.”

Image: Facebook

These vaguely humanist statements are not necessarily in tension with evangelical Christianity, and orthodox Christian beliefs do indeed stress the value of human solidarity. It is fundamental to the Christian faith that Jesus died for Jews and gentiles—his path of salvation is emphatically open to all humanity. But then Dr. Hawkins went one step too far.

“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.”

Dr. Hawkins’ statement is false on its face—Muslims consider Jews and Christians to be “people of the book,” but they do not themselves embrace that title. “People of the book” only refers to those who abide by scriptures written before the Koran. Nevertheless, Wheaton did not emphasize this, but instead focused on the “same God” comment.

Wheaton’s LaTonya Taylor explained that, following this declaration, the college placed Dr. Hawkins on paid administrative leave on December 15, “in order to give more time to explore significant questions regarding the theological implications of her recent public statements, including those indicating the relationship of Christianity to Islam.”

Wheaton College “requested additional theological discussions and clarification,” but Dr. Hawkins “declined to participate in further dialogue.” As the college sees it, Dr. Hawkins made a problematic public statement, Wheaton gave her time to reconsider and asked her to discuss it with them, and she refused.

“At an impasse, per the College’s policies and procedures, Provost Stanton Jones delivered the Notice of Recommendation to Initiate Termination-for-Cause Proceedings,” the statement concluded. This began the process of opening a tenured faculty member to being fired.

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