Franklin Graham, the president and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, has chastised Wheaton College, an evangelical Christian college, for abandoning its plans to fire a Muslim professor who insisted that Christians and Muslims “worship the same God.” The Muslim political science professor, Dr. Larycia Hawkins, was suspended in December for her comments, which also included the fact that she would wear the hijab to work at Wheaton College.
Wheaton College’s Faculty Council, which acts as interlocutor for the college administration and faculty, voted unanimously to prevent the school from firing Hawkins. The College replied that the school was following “established protocol,” issuing the following statement:
The next step in this process is a hearing before the Faculty Personnel Committee. The Faculty Personnel Committee will receive presentations from the Provost and Dr. Hawkins regarding the substantive and procedural issues each would like to raise, will review the evidence presented, and will make a formal recommendation regarding the termination of tenure.The Faculty Personnel Committee’s recommendation will then be taken into consideration by President Ryken, as he makes his recommendation to the Board of Trustees.”
On Saturday, Franklin Graham posted on Facebook:
Both my father Billy Graham and my mother attended Wheaton College in Illinois – in fact that’s where they met. I’m surprised and disappointed that the faculty council there is now recommending the college drop their plans to terminate a professor who published that she believed Islam and Christianity worship the same God in December.
He continued that Hawkins’ remarks were “no minor issue … Islam denies that God has a Son. They deny that Jesus is God. They do not believe in a Triune God–the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I can tell you – Islam and Christianity clearly do not worship the same God. How the faculty council can now support this professor being allowed to teach students is deeply concerning.”
H/T The Blaze