College Starts Firing Process for Professor Who Said Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God

Wheaton College, an evangelical Christian school outside Chicago, has begun the firing process for a tenured professor who was put on leave last month after she said Christians and Muslims worship the same god.

Wheaton's administration has initiated the termination-for-cause proceedings for political science professor Larycia Hawkins, following "the impasse reached by the parties," the school said in a statement yesterday.

Hawkins' termination proceedings come less than a month after Wheaton placed her on administrative leave following a Facebook post in which she said Muslims and Christians worship the same god. She also announced in the same post that she would start wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf to express solidarity with Muslims, who she says have been under greater scrutiny following the mass shootings in Paris and San Bernardino.

Related: Evangelical Wheaton College Suspends Professor for Saying Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God

"I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book," she wrote. "A large-scale movement of Women in Solidarity with Hijabs is my Christmas wish this year."

Wheaton said its decision to suspend Hawkins did not have to do with her wearing the hijab but rather was in response to "significant questions regarding the theological implications of her recent public statements … indicating the relationship of Christianity to Islam," according to a statement by the school.

The school had asked Hawkins for "further theological clarification before such reconciliation can take place," which consisted in Hawkins reaffirming her Christian faith, according to the Chicago Tribune. Hawkins' response apparently did not satisfy the administration, which then requested additional discussion, in which Hawkins declined to participate, Wheaton said.

This latest controversy marks the fourth time that Hawkins had been asked to reaffirm her Christian faith in accordance with Wheaton's evangelical Statement of Faith since she started teaching at the school in 2007, according to the Tribune. Once was reportedly in response to a paper she wrote relating the Bible to African-American liberation theology and then again after she advocated Wheaton diversify its curriculum regarding conversations about sexuality.

Despite the pushback from her employer, Hawkins has continued her solidarity campaign. On December 16, after Wheaton announced her suspension, she thanked her supporters and colleagues at Wheaton in a Facebook post that she signed #womeninsolidaritywithhijab. Hawkins said that she has received criticism almost exclusively from Christians, mostly for her claim conflating Muslim and Christian beliefs.

Hawkins has pushed back. She told Chicago Tonight that her post "absolutely" did not contradict her Christian faith and furthermore, what she said "has been affirmed by the Christian church for centuries and has been affirmed by many prominent evangelicals."

In the next 30 days, the administration will hold a hearing consisting of a panel of nine professors to determine whether Hawkins should lose her job. The panel's recommendations will then be submitted to Wheaton's president and the Board of Trustees, who will make the final decision regarding Hawkins's employment.