Hurrah for Wheaton's faculty!

[smaneck]

No doubt many of you have heard about Wheaton provost's attempt to fire Dr. Larycia Hawkins, their only African American faculty member for stating that Muslims worship the same God as do Christians. She did this after donning a hijab to express her solidarity with Muslims after Jerry Falwell Jr. told students at Liberty University to carry handguns to protect themselves from Muslims. Wheaton's administration placed her on leave and demanded to know how her statements could be reconciled with the statement of faith she agreed to when she joined the Wheaton faculty. Her reiteration of that statement did not satisfy the administration so they agreed to let her teach on a probationary status if she gave up tenure. Naturally she refused that outrageous demand so they began proceedings to have her terminated. The first step in that process was to present the matter to the Faculty Personnel Committee. However, before they got that far it seems that the Faculty Council met and unanimously voiced their support for Dr. Hawkins saying they were quite satisfied that her beliefs aligned with the Wheaton Statement of Faith. Furthermore Wheaton's Faculty Diversity Committee sent a memo to the Faculty Personnel Committee stating its concern that Wheaton's only African-American professor was being constantly scrutinized over her views on race, gender and martial status. They held this raised the specter of discrimination. That memo was apparently leaked.

Two days later the provost of Wheaton college apologized to Dr. Hawkins, asked her forgiveness and stated that Wheaton would no longer seek her termination. Hours after that a joint announcement was made stating that the College and Dr. Hawkins have reached a confidential agreement under which they will part ways. In other words, she got a nice settlement and is now on to bigger and better things.

 

[Chesterton]

Well the good news is the vast majority of us still take Statements of Faith seriously.

 

[gord44]

Not a Christian but if you agree to a statement of faith at a Christian college then you should abide by it. Obviously a religion that denies the godhood of Jesus is not compatible with a Christian college.

I disagree with both religions in their usual literal practice but see the colleges point. If a Muslim university wanted to fire a professor who started saying Jesus was actually gods son then I would see why they would want to fire him.

 

[smaneck]

Not a Christian but if you agree to a statement of faith at a Christian college then you should abide by it. Obviously a religion that denies the godhood of Jesus is not compatible with a Christian college

That was never the issue. Dr. Hawkins is not a Muslim. All she did was that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Whether or not she is right about this, it was no a violation of Wheaton's statement of faith.

 

[gord44]

That was never the issue. Dr. Hawkins is not a Muslim. All she did was that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Whether or not she is right about this, it was no a violation of Wheaton's statement of faith.

If I was a Christian I would naturally disagree as a Christian believes Jesus is God. Muslims don't. Jesus is God doesn't jive with Jesus isn't God. Sure we good go into the semantics of the Hebrew God but really the whole question boils down to Jesus. Either way, who cares. I'll be going now...

 

[smaneck]

If I was a Christian I would naturally disagree as a Christian believes Jesus is God.Muslims don't.

Neither do most Jews yet most Christians don't insist that Jews worship a different God.

The fact that different people believe different things about God does not mean they worship different gods.

 

[Butterfly99]

Yeah there's a lot of reasons why I wouldn't apply to Wheaton & this is 1 of them. Well hope all goes well for her.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Neither do most Jews yet most Christians don't insist that Jews worship a different God.

The fact that different people believe different things about God does not mean they worship different gods.

I've met some Christians who insist Jews don't worship the same God that Christians do and therefore are idolators. An idea that, to me, sounds like a sort of Marcionism.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[graceandpeace]

Christians & Muslims both worship the God of Abraham, so simply saying as much shouldn't be controversial.

I'm not comfortable with making a pronouncement regarding whether someone who says they worship the same God as me is actually doing so. To reference Queen Elizabeth I, I have no desire to make windows into souls.

I don't know if wearing a hijab was the appropriate avenue for showing solidarity with Muslims.

 

[smaneck]

Christians & Muslims both worship the God of Abraham, so simply saying as much shouldn't be controversial.

Initially the provost had called her remarks innocuous. It was when another faculty member posted a response saying he was going to have his students do the Muslim salat or obligatory prayer in class that he became concerned. IMV that second professor was going too far. We may worship the same God, but there are boundaries between religions as well. I often take my mother to church, but I don't take the Eucharist. Likewise, I don't think anyone should be doing salat unless they believe in the Prophethood of Muhammad, because the salat involves testifying to that. But the Provost handled it all wrong. He insisted that the other professor issue a clarification statement, which explained that he only wanted students to experiment with different postures of prayer. “I am not a syncretist,” the statement that Jones crafted says. “I do not teach students to pray to Allah or consider Islamic spirituality equivalent to Christian faith.”

Meanwhile, a friend told Hawkins that Mangis’ comment was causing questions, and she deleted Mangis’ comment from her Facebook wall. Mangis and Jones closed their emails exchanging “Salaam alaykum”—Arabic for “Peace be upon you”—and Mangis faced no further theological scrutiny. Apparently she was placed on leave for refusing to post a similar retraction.
IMV a more appropriate response would have been for the Provost to simply say, "No, you can't have your students perform salat in college classroom at Wheaton, though they may experiment with the different postures. It was inappropriate to force this professor to make statements regarding his faith.

I don't know if wearing a hijab was the appropriate avenue for showing solidarity with Muslims.

The College insisted that wasn't the problem.

 

[smaneck]

I've met some Christians who insist Jews don't worship the same God that Christians do and therefore are idolators. An idea that, to me, sounds like a sort of Marcionism.

-CryptoLutheran

Yes, when I taught a World Religion class at Jackson State I was astounded by the number of students who refused to admit that Jesus was a Jew.

 

[He is Risen 72]

Jesus is God, not a jew.

 

[ChetSinger]

Jesus is God, not a jew.

I hear you, but I feel compelled to expand on that. Jesus is both God and man. And as a man, he's a Jew, being the son of Mary:

For I could wish that I myself were accursed – cut off from Christ – for the sake of my people, my fellow countrymen, who are Israelites.

To them belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.

To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, by human descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever! Amen. - Romans 9

 

[smaneck]

Jesus is God, not a jew.

So when did you become a Monophysite?

 

[ViaCrucis]

Jesus is God, not a jew.

So you're a Docetist then? Jesus wasn't actually human? Might I recommend looking up 2 John 7.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[smaneck]

So you're a Docetist then? Jesus wasn't actually human? Might I recommend looking up 2 John 7.

-CryptoLutheran

Oh no, It's the Antichrist!

 

[Gxg (G²)]

No doubt many of you have heard about Wheaton provost's attempt to fire Dr. Larycia Hawkins, their only African American faculty member for stating that Muslims worship the same God as do Christians. She did this after donning a hijab to express her solidarity with Muslims after Jerry Falwell Jr. told students at Liberty University to carry handguns to protect themselves from Muslims. Wheaton's administration placed her on leave and demanded to know how her statements could be reconciled with the statement of faith she agreed to when she joined the Wheaton faculty. Her reiteration of that statement did not satisfy the administration so they agreed to let her teach on a probationary status if she gave up tenure. Naturally she refused that outrageous demand so they began proceedings to have her terminated. The first step in that process was to present the matter to the Faculty Personnel Committee. However, before they got that far it seems that the Faculty Council met and unanimously voiced their support for Dr. Hawkins saying they were quite satisfied that her beliefs aligned with the Wheaton Statement of Faith. Furthermore Wheaton's Faculty Diversity Committee sent a memo to the Faculty Personnel Committee stating its concern that Wheaton's only African-American professor was being constantly scrutinized over her views on race, gender and martial status. They held this raised the specter of discrimination. That memo was apparently leaked.

Two days later the provost of Wheaton college apologized to Dr. Hawkins, asked her forgiveness and stated that Wheaton would no longer seek her termination. Hours after that a joint announcement was made stating that the College and Dr. Hawkins have reached a confidential agreement under which they will part ways. In other words, she got a nice settlement and is now on to bigger and better things.

Glad to hear of it, as I was very disheartened to see the treatment she received. And with her experiences as an African American female, it only highlighted the differing layers of prejudice even more...

 

[simplegifts]

Neither do most Jews yet most Christians don't insist that Jews worship a different God.

The fact that different people believe different things about God does not mean they worship different gods.

It does when God has changed a teaching. We know Jesus raised the moral bar of what was already laid out in the Torah.
Mohammad taught immoralities through his Quran and hadith. Ideas that go against what God taught.

I can't believe that God would dumb down our moral education.

 

[smaneck]

It does when God has changed a teaching. We know Jesus raised the moral bar of what was already laid out in the Torah.
Mohammad taught immoralities through his Quran and hadith. Ideas that go against what God taught.

Hadith are not scripture. They were compiled centuries after Muhammad died and there is no way of knowing which ones actually reflect his teachings. As for the Qur'an, what "immoralities" are taught there which are not also found in the Bible?

 

[simplegifts]

Hadith are not scripture. They were compiled centuries after Muhammad died and there is no way of knowing which ones actually reflect his teachings. As for the Qur'an, what "immoralities" are taught there which are not also found in the Bible?

I know Hadith are not Scripture, but the Quran is incomplete. There are not many Quran only Muslims. How are Muslims to know HOW to follow Mohammad without hadith? Bukhari is the most trusted and those following the word sahih which means authentic.

If you were to speak truth of the violent half of Mohammad and Islam - wouldt that destroy your religion?