Professor should teach at different college

Many Christians from the Chicago area, including myself, have had their attention on the recent Daily Herald coverage of Wheaton College's professor of political science, Dr. Larycia Hawkins, and her public assertions that Muslims and Christians worship the same God.

Saturday's Daily Herald article highlighted the 815 Wheaton College alumni who have signed a letter threatening to withhold financial gifts to the school unless it reconciles with Dr. Hawkins. I believe I speak for many more Christians who stand with Wheaton College and the very difficult decisions they are forced to make because Dr. Hawkins has stepped over some very significant theological lines when making her very public assertions.

I hope we can all appreciate that Wheaton College is a private institution that has every right to expect its faculty to uphold their school's Christian statement of faith inside and outside of the classroom.

At the same time, Dr. Hawkins has every right to her personal beliefs, but it appears to be time for her to teach at a different type of institution. While Muslims and Christians are "people of the book," they are people of two very different books describing two very different worldviews.

I believe it is possible for all of us to grow in mutual understanding, respect and love without compromising our convictions in the process. May our foundational American beliefs in freedom of religion and freedom of speech win the day as Larycia Hawkins goes on to teach at another institution whose mission is more in line with her convictions, and may Wheaton College continue to teach the Christian worldview upheld by most of its current students, faculty and alumni.

Nancy Mau

Buffalo Grove