Professor Facing Termination Over Views On Islam Not Backing Down
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A defiant Wheaton College professor facing termination for stating Christians and Muslims worship the same God answered her critics Wednesday, and questioned whether the school is living up to its own Christian mission.
Larycia Hawkins, a tenured associate professor of political science who wore a hijab during Advent as a show of support for Muslims, was suspended last month after posting a message on Facebook explaining her decision to wear the hijab.
"I love my Muslim neighbor because s/he deserves love by virtue of her/his human dignity. 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--a cave in Sterkfontein, South Africa that I had the privilege to descend into to plumb the depths of our common humanity in 2014," she wrote. "They, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God."
The school has said it did not suspend her for wearing a hijab, but due to "significant questions regarding the theological implications of statements that Associate Professor of Political Science Dr. Larycia Hawkins has made about the relationship of Christianity to Islam."
Hawkins said if she's fired for her comments, then no one in academia is safe.
"Wheaton College will never hear me disavow my religious family tree. That would be the height of academic dishonesty," she said. "Wheaton College will never induce me to kowtow to their double speak concerning the statement of faith so as to appease an imaginary constituency that clearly knows little about what academic freedom or Christian love mean."
Hawkins said, in light of the school's decision to begin termination proceedings against her, she has doubts about Wheaton College's mission.
"Wheaton College does liberal arts well, yet I am left to ponder how well does Wheaton College treat its employees who dare to challenge students and peers to stand with – not merely for – people outside the Christian fold," she said.
The college said it's moving forward with the termination process because Hawkins declined to participate in further discussions about the implications of her Facebook post.
Hawkins said, after she was suspended, she gave Wheaton College a lengthy statement about her religious beliefs.
"They did not give me Jesus, and they can't take him away from me," she said.
Despite facing the loss of her job, Hawkins did not back down from her support for Muslims.
"Our love for Jesus compels us to make no peace with oppression, because Christianity is political, or it's not Christianity," she said.
Rev. Jesse Jackson was among a coalition of clergy members from several walks of faith who stood behind Hawkins on Wednesday at the Chicago Temple in the Loop.
"We are one people serving one God," he said.
Also among those defending Hawkins was a former college classmate who has since decided not to send her children to Wheaton.
"I don't want their Christian identity to be marked by pride, and exclusivity, and tribalism," she said.
Wheaton alum Rachel Brooks said the school's actions have been disappointing.
"I'm ashamed that this very un-Christlike response is being brought upon my sister," she said.
The school has said it placed Hawkins on paid administrative leave in December because of 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."
The college said it has had frank conversations with Hawkins on doctrinal issues as it pursued the possibility of reconciliation with her but that "Hawkins has stated clearly her unwillingness to participate in such further clarifying conversations."
Hawkins accused the administration of moving the goalposts after she answered all the provost's questions.