Michael1942's Blog

The same old issue of a different Deity for each religion arises again, if the assorted  and varied religions were truly led by religious guides this discussion would not exist. There is no separate Deity for each religious faction or group, the difference is created by the elders whose faith is less  than it should be. That lack of faith is what creates the rift among the Various faith groups. All paths of belief end up in the same place – at the foot of one Deity no matter what detours the sect takes to get there. The story below is one of many that shows how basically backwards we are as far as religion is concerned. The Crusades was another.

Wheaton College political science professor Larycia Hawkins has decided to part ways with the college just five days before a faculty hearing was scheduled to help decide her fate at the school, according to an email from president Philip Ryken to the campus on Saturday.

“The Administration and Dr. Hawkins have come to a place of resolution and reconciliation,” Ryken said in his email. “With a mutual desire for God’s blessing, we have decided to part ways.”

In a separate email to the faculty, Wheaton provost Stan Jones said in an email Saturday that he has withdrawn charges for firing Hawkins and asked Hawkins for forgiveness.

“I asked Dr. Hawkins for her forgiveness for the ways I contributed to the fracture of our relationship, and to the fracture of Dr. Hawkins’ relationship with the College,” he wrote.

Jones wrote that he apologized for his “lack of wisdom and collegiality” in his original contact with Hawkins, which was through another colleague, as opposed to through direct contact.

Hawkins was placed on administrative leave on Dec. 15 after she published a Facebook post suggesting that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. The statement set off a wave of controversy across the country amid larger debates about the role of Muslims in America. “I stand by my concerns that Dr. Hawkins’s theological statements raised important questions,” Jones wrote.

The college said at the time that her comments raised significant theological questions and requested the professor provide a theological statement. Faculty are required to sign a statement of faith, which some felt Hawkins could not affirm after making her comments. Several faculty raised questions about the college’s process during the controversy, which Ryken noted in his campus-wide email.

“Because concerns have been raised about many aspects of this complex situation—including concerns related to academic freedom, due process, the leaking of confidential information, possible violations of faculty governance, and gender and racial discrimination—I have asked the Board of Trustees to conduct a thorough review,” Ryken said in his email.

After Hawkins issued her theological statement, Jones requested further clarification, and upon the request, she declined to continue the conversation, telling The Post, “I don’t want to be subjected to a theological inquisition.” Jones then issued a notice for termination-for-cause, which he has now revoked.

Saturday’s email from Jones came one day after 78 current Wheaton faculty members signed a letter petitioning for Hawkins’ reinstatement, and after the school’s 12-person Faculty Council, which represents the faculty, issued a similar letter, outlining their concerns with Hawkins’ termination proceedings. There are 211 faculty.

Jones said in the email that while he still has concerns that Hawkins’ theological statements “raised important questions,” he revoked his termination charges because of the “deficiencies” in his early responses, and recognizing that Hawkins’ theological response was a “promising start” toward the conversation he wished to hold.

Hawkins remains on administrative leave, a matter, Jones said in his email, Wheaton’s president Philip Ryken will resolve.

Political science professor Leah Anderson, who is Hawkins’s department chair, said that faculty she spoke with on Saturday are rejoicing after receiving Jones’s email and before she received Ryken’s email stating that Hawkins would leave the college.

“We’ve been hallelujah-ing,” Anderson said. “Everybody is just so relieved. I’m so impressed with the provost because I just can’t imagine the courage it took to reverse that decision.”

Anderson said she does not know what the next steps will be in the process.

“I think there are still issues and concerns and questions among faculty that we’ll have to work out as a community, but this creates a foundation on which we can work on,” she said.

Hawkins’s December comments that she would wear the hijab in solidarity with Muslim women during Advent, and her comment — Christians and Muslims worship the same God — became especially controversial in evangelical circles. She received criticism from leading evangelicals, including evangelist Franklin Graham, and was defended by others, including theologian Miroslav Volf.

The underlying debate that took place among evangelicals was complex, centered on how the Christian belief in a Trinitarian God — God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit — differs from the God of Islam and Judaism.

Theologians have debated whether Christians and Muslims understand God in the same way, and if so, whether they worship the same “one God.” Do they define the word “worship” in the same way?

But those questions have been set aside amid the personnel dispute that had faculty concerned about the process the college used. Hawkins is one of Wheaton’s five black tenured professors, who make up 2 percent of the faculty, and its only full-time black female professor.

Calls to Wheaton’s spokeswoman and Hawkins were not immediately returned on Saturday. In a statement from college on Saturday, it said that Wheaton officials and Hawkins will not speak to the press about their relationship or their reconciliation before the press conference on Feb. 10, and there will be no questions taken at or after the press conference.

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The media has been hot with the Oscars and the lack of diversity in the selection of candidates behind and in front of the cameras. Unfortunately this issue has been around a long time. Going back to the Oscars after the release of “Gone With The Wind”  when Hattie McDaniel won for best supporting actor (a first for an African American actor in any movie), however she was told to what to say and then essentially get off of the stage. Now there have been many African American  and other ethnic actors who have been nominated and won Oscars but recent events seem to point out that the nominations have been pretty “white”. The issue is with the lack of diversity in the nominations not so much the awards.  This is the issue, the lack of recognition at all.  Being nominated is a recognition of cinematic achievement  as much as winning. Any boycott or lack of attendance may not solve the issue immediately but it has served to focus attention on the issue. Several actors have been approached about this and all have issued opinions which ultimately addressed the issue in several ways ranging from dismissal to agreement. The last word on this has yet to be heard however  the general consensus appears to be that the nomination board need to take a broader view of the industry in its selection process. After all America and the larger world is ethnically and racially diverse in spite of the makeup of their personal circles.

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We think of seasons as changes in the weather according to the earth, sun and moon positions as the earth rotates. Election season is a bit different. The election season brings some of the same elements as the natural seasons in that there is light, dark ,warm ,cold and many things in between. We have many people jockeying for the position of candidate of one party or another. Since we don’t or can’t remember the last election season, here are some tips to help: all of aspirants have skeletons in their closets, dirt under their beds and made poor choices at some point. This just shows that they are human. The key is how honest are they? Honesty is measured by their ability to recognize and correct or own their mistakes. Consider their prior lives before it became public, what did they accomplish or try to accomplish? What about their finances , are they above board or as normal as yours? Some of the issues that come out as “dirt” is not as bad as it is made out to be but out of context they seem awful. Your Aunt Minnie’s underwear on the clothesline was just as shocking in her day! To get through the election season just look at the debates if you want but understand that debates are like trials, you have proof and you have conjecture. Unfortunately conjecture often sounds better than the truth. Debates and political speeches have more conjecture than truth as conjecture sells and the truth is dull. We seem to relish the idea of a verbal fight but often miss the messages of those verbal battles and there is a problem. What is said to great applause is usually not a viable solution to anything until it completely laid out and even then sometimes marginal at best. It is good to remember running for office and running an office are as different as night and day. Where we (voters) need to be mentally is that what’s openly said is not necessarily what is intended.

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