she was not suspended for wearing hijab or for expressing solidarity with Muslims. Wheaton is an evangelical Christian college, and hold to the belief that Christianity is the one true faith. She was suspended because she said that Muslims and Christians worship the same God, thus suggesting that Christ is not the only path to salvation. To someone outside conservative Christianity this may appear like intolerance, but it is not necessarily that. Wheaton professors sign faith statements when they are appointed (at least as far as I know), so it is her theological statements that led to this action.

I don't agree with them, but let's not misstate the issues.

Thank you for writing.

In the Late Breaking News forum (LBN), we are required to use the headline as it appears and, in the quoted material box, stay strictly with what was written. Any commentary appears in a separate box.

When I post in LBN, I try to rely upon old-school print media sources for my articles, and not sites with an axe to grind. My monthly employment reports go to the source, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and not some source that is either cheerleading for the current administration or has its knives out for them.

As for what I quote, I do get to pick and choose a little, for though we are limited to four paragraphs, we get to select the paragraphs that are quoted.

In this case, I made sure to include material from the Chicago Tribune article pointing out that it was the professor's explanation, not her original act, that got her in hot water with her employer. The reason I did this was to forestall precisely the firestorm that was sure to follow once the news got taken over by partisan websites and twisted to meet the sites' agendas. That won't take long.

I hope this helps. Welcome to DU again.

Best wishes.
mahatmakanejeeves

I don't have a problem with your post at all. Just wanted to clarify the issues at work here.

I don't agree with them either , their explanation is wonky. They'd have to provide that they would suspend any Mormon as well since Mormons rely on The Book of Mormon which is supposed to come have the New Testament. Same thing for the Koran. Next. There is this confusion that Muslims and Islam is the same thing. I can confuse it myself. Course one can believe in Christ and not be a Christian. Depends on how you look at it.

Oddly the headline I find elsewhere is this one
Illinois professor suspended for saying Muslims, Christians worship same God. Then I would severely disagree with the College because yes God and Allah are the same God. Duh. Guess there are really dumb people at Wheaton. I didn't think Wheaton would be a Radical College but I guess so. Other Christian colleges say it as a matter of Fact. That it's the Muslim word for the same God. Where Jesus is also part of the Koran. So was she suspended for saying this or the garb? This is a media fuckup.

college lists. I know already which one will be erased.

When you work for a religious institution, they get to fire you for heresy. Or being a homosexual. Or sex outside of marriage. Or having an abortion. Or wearing makeup. Or whatever they want. That's the way it works.

Faith-based bullshit, but LEGAL faith-based bullshit none-the-less.

Although I am a freethinker, I commend her for her effort as a Christian to reach out to Muslims because Christianity and Islam are much more alike than they are different. Both worship the same God, although one believes God to be a unity and other a trinity, which is what makes both Christians and Muslims, along with Jews, "people of the book." In addition to the same Abrahamic God, they share many of the same beliefs. Ask any devout person of the book why murder is wrong, and each will cite the sixth of the Ten Commandments.

The authorities at Wheaton are worried about a conflation of Christian and Islamic theology? They have been conflated since the time of Mohammad.

which is NOT a religion-based college.

A state school would probably give her an award but she's working for an evangelical school. Anything that even hints that the love of Jaysus isn't the be all end all completely unique original perfect and incomparable religious truth for eternity is kinda spitting in their faces a bit. Now I, from a diffferent angle, happen to agree that they are very similar paths with the exact same roots, but I can be dispassionate about it.