As a private college I suppose it is their right…but the thought police are apparently alive and well at the conservative colleges. It seems she was suspended not for wearing the hijab but for a facebook post she made:
If this were a public school one thinks it would be protected speech either way, no?
Well, at least she wasn’t wearing a hijab as part of her Halloween costume 
Either on the left or right, proto-fascists are stupid people who shouldn’t be in charge of universities.
But I guess I do expect less from Wheaton College. Religious stuff is probably a hot button issue there. This isn’t one of those schools that teaches creationism, is it??
^ she checked with a Muslim org to make sure it wouldn’t be offensive to wear it as a non-Muslim! Apparently she forgot to check with her employer as to whether it was OK to point out a similarity between Christianity and Islam on her personal Facebook page…
If a college wants to ban hijab wearing, how will it deal with people who wear similar head coverings in the winter to keep their heads warm?
I think the problem wasn’t the hijab but the FBpost.
What a stupid decision by Wheaton! They could have had good publicity from this, but they chose to have terrible publicity.
There’s a meme going around saying, “The day Muslims have to register is the day I register as a Muslim,” with a picture of the star badge Jews had to wear in occupied Europe.
Again, she wasn’t punished for wearing a hajib. She was punished for saying Muslims and Christians are “people of the book.” This is a concept which many Christians would consider contrary to Christian teaching. “People of the book” is a Muslim concept, i.e., Muslim men can marry women who are not Muslim but are “people of the book.” Faculty members at Wheaton have to subscribe to “orthodox” Evangelical beliefs.
Wheaton doesn’t permit Catholics to teach there, for example. http://www.firstthings.com/article/2006/04/to-be-a-christian-college
Apparently this was the objectionable part:
“And as Pope Francis stated last week, we [Muslims and Christians] worship the same God.”
I’m an atheist, so maybe I don’t count, but isn’t a monotheist committed to the view that other monotheists worship the same god? If there’s only one god, and someone worships one god, that’s the one they have to be worshiping because that’s the only one around.
“isn’t a monotheist committed to the view that other monotheists worship the same god?”
Some think that and some do not.
“This isn’t one of those schools that teaches creationism, is it??”
Yes it is. Although it appears that some members of the science faculty teach a strict “Young Earth” version of creationism while others are willing to consider a longer creative timeline.
http://www.wheaton.edu/~/media/Files/Academics/TheNaturalSciencesAtWheatonCollege.pdf
From pages 15-16:
“While all faculty believe in the complete truthfulness and authority of Scripture, some embrace or lean toward a creationism, of the Young Earth variety, others a punctuated or progressive creationism. Nonetheless, our faculty embrace Christ’s creative design and action in the created order.”
I stand corrected by wikipedia. To me, “People of the Book” is a Muslim concept. However, it seems that it is also a Protestant one and a Jewish one. (It certainly isn’t Catholic one, which explains my ignorance.) However, it means different things in each of these three traditions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_of_the_Book
There are some disputes about this. For example, some Muslims don’t view Christians, who believe in the Trinity :Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as monotheists. They view us as polytheists.
Here’s what I see as a good explanation of the controversy.
Update with students protesting now: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-wheaton-college-professor-larycia-hawkins-20151216-story.html
Weaton College has suspended a tenured professor who said Christians and Muslims share the same God, sparking protests Wednesday afternoon on the west suburban campus.
“Same God” is theologically tricky, since the two religions believe different things about this God. But it is beyond debate that both religions believe and teach that this God is the God of Abraham, Moses, Joseph.
But Muslims do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, do they? If so that’s a fairly substantial ideological difference from Christians. Also, I believe she is mistaken in that she seems to believe that the wearing of a hajib is mandated by the Koran or universally worn by Muslim women as an expression of faith. Tradition-bound women in some Islamic nations do not wear the hajib.
Jews, Christians, Muslims believe in the God of Abraham, and are therefore cousins. You are correct that the hijab and veil are not Quranic but are cultural, and have merged into Islamic tradition. Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet but not God.
@jonri - “People of the Book” isn’t inconsistent with Catholic theology. (I have a degree in Catholic systematics…) It isn’t language that we specifically use, but it doesn’t violate our understanding of the Abrahamic tradition. Indeed, the Quran talks quite favorably of Mary (more there than in our canonical scriptures!) and Jesus is viewed as a prophet.
IIRC, Wheaton fired a prof in 2013 for converting to Catholicism, though, so what our tradition teaches is obviously of little interest to them. The fact that the professor under fire this week quoted Pope Francis probably didn’t sit well with them, either. Wheaton is a pretty unique place.
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IIRC, Wheaton fired a prof in 2013 for converting to Catholicism, though, so what our tradition teaches is obviously of little interest to them.
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Interesting. So Wheaton strictly only accepts what can be specifically found in the Bible?
I don’t agree with what the college did, but I don’t object to them exercising their right to do it. I don’t know enough about the obligations the professor is under contract to uphold - I assume her faithfulness to the teachings of the school are part of her contract. If that is the case, it seems there really is nothing to see here and we should just move along.
From what I read and have heard from my older brother who attended a fundamentalist Christian university in the south, this sort of action is to be expected. The mission of the school is to grow people in the faith. If you choose to matriculate or teach at a school such as Wheaton, you have to commit to upholding their beliefs. Sounds to me like the professor was a wrong fit, and this incongruity would have reared its head, one way or the other, eventually. Too bad for the school that this had to happen so publicly.
She had tenure, has been teaching there for almost 9 years, and she is described as being very popular with students in the articles I’ve read. IDK about a “wrong fit”.
Her decision to wear a hijab in solidarity with Muslims is a meaningless, useless gesture that will accomplish nothing. Symbolism over substance. However, I don’t have much sympathy for those who run colleges like Wheaton and distort the Christianity for which they claim to have such high regard. Why are they surprised that, at the end point of ecumenicalism, is now a new, apparently unforeseen starting point - a belief that Muslims and Christians are “cousins” and worship the same God? This professor embodies this new ecumenicalism with her wearing of the hijab during Advent and her use of the Pope as justification for her decision. Whom will she quote next? Joseph Smith or would he be too American, so better to add a little Confucious to the mix? Better yet, a little Flying Spaghetti Monster doctrine would be more on trend. The college should have refrained from suspending her, because I am sure they are staffed with plenty of other professors who, if held to the words of the Bible, would fail the smell test, as well. That is why college should be college, and church should be church. Christ did not ask for Christian colleges. He asked for individuals to spread the Gospel message, period. One thing is for sure - Christ’s gospel won’t be spread via the Qu’ran, and it is quite absurd to even have to type such a phrase in the first place.
This thread is just another convenient opportunity for those who get some smug self-satisfaction out of condescending to fundamentalist religious people and organizations, with a particular fixation the south. Do you all seriously believe that the majority of the “thought police” out there reside on the campuses of so-called Christian colleges in the southern states? Please. If it makes you feel better to believe that to be so, then go ahead. I suggest you utilize what I am sure is your already strongly held personal beliefs in tolerance and actually put that belief into use, and go visit one of those campuses and see just who is more willing to discuss differing beliefs, without resorting to hate and bigotry.