If Wheaton College professor Larycia Hawkins had simply donned a headscarf in support of Muslims without explaining herself, she may have administered final exams last week.
Instead, Hawkins, a tenured political science professor at the private evangelical Christian college, proclaimed on social media that Christians and Muslims share the same God, prompting the college to suspend her.
“I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book,” she posted Dec. 10 on Facebook. “And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.”
That explanation rankled some evangelical Christians.
“While Islam and Christianity are both monotheistic, we believe 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,” Wheaton College said in a statement.
The suspension, effective immediately and lasting through the spring semester, sparked protests on campus from students calling for Hawkins’ reinstatement and an apology from the college. About two dozen Christian clergy also appeared with Hawkins at a news conference in Chicago to show their support.
Hawkins announced two weeks ago that she would wear a traditional headscarf as part of her devotion during Advent, the contemplative period proceeding Christmas on the Christian calendar. She wished to show support for Muslims who have felt under attack because of harsh rhetoric on social media and the presidential campaign trail since mass shootings in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif.
She said nothing about her gesture or statement contradicting the college’s statement of faith, which all instructors must sign. It outlines 12 evangelical beliefs, including the literal truth of the Bible, the necessity to be born again in the Holy Spirit, the imminence of the Second Coming and the bodily resurrection of the dead.
Protestors insisted Hawkins remained faithful to the college’s core beliefs and demanded her reinstatement in a letter to President Philip Ryken and Provost Stan Jones.
“Dr. Hawkins is an essential part of the community here,” said Wyatt Harms, a senior political science major, who has taken several of her classes. “She’s a refuge for so many students on campus.”
Other students supported the college’s decision. David Burnham, 21, a junior business and economics major from Naples, Fla., said Hawkins’ statement has “profound theological implications.”
“By placing her on leave, the school says it doesn’t believe Muslims and Christians worship the same God,” he said. “The college had no choice.”
The student who inspired Hawkins to wear the hijab in solidarity with Muslims mobilized nearly a dozen others to wear the traditional Muslim headscarf on their flights home for Christmas.
Karly Bothman, 20, of Eugene, Ore., said the lessons she learned this fall from Hawkins have inspired her to fight for those who are oppressed, including refugees and Muslims. Wearing headscarfs is not so much a show of solidarity with Hawkins, but an attempt to bolster her original gesture.
“It’s trying to refocus what she was trying to carry out in the pursuit of justice for our Muslim neighbors,” Bothman said.