Controversial Ex-Wheaton College Prof to Speak at Free Chicago Event
Photo By: AP
Dr. Larycia Hawkins, who aroused national controversy this past December by wearing an Islamic headscarf as a form of Christian public witness at her Bible college teaching post, will speak publicly, Wednesday, February 24. Hawkins will be in conversation with Ahmed Rehab, the executive director of the Chicago office of the Council on American and Islamic Relations. The event is co-hosted by the Chicago Sunday Evening Club and the First United Methodist Church at Chicago Temple, and will be moderated by Chicago Sunday Evening Club executive director, Dr. David Dault. The event runs from 6 to 8 p.m. (Central) at the First United Methodist Church at Chicago Temple, 77 West Washington Street in the Chicago Loop.
Hawkins ended up at odds with her employer by choosing, as a professor of political science at Wheaton College, to wear a headscarf during the season of Advent. Dr. Hawkins, a Christian, attributed her public act of “embodied solidarity” with Muslims, in part, to a quote credited to Pope Francis, that people of both faiths worship the same God.
“The dialogue will take the Pope's claim as a starting point,” explained Dault, “and explore both the criticisms and the possibilities that follow from it. We’ll examine the history of Christian public witness and the relationship between majority and minority religions in America.” He added that the evening will include an opportunity for questions from the audience.
Media coverage of the controversy has, to this point, most often emphasized the common ground Hawkins finds between the Christian and Muslim traditions. The February 24 conversation will allow the audience to begin to identify and understand the points at which these religious traditions disagree about the central question of God’s identity, in a productive conversation that is respectful of the beliefs of both sides.
WHAT: The Same God? Dr. Larycia Hawkins and Ahmed Rehab in Conversation
WHEN: Wednesday, February 24, 2016, 6 – 8 p.m. (CENTRAL)
WHO: Former Wheaton College professor Dr. Larycia Hawkins and Chicago office of the Council on American and Islamic Relations Executive Director Ahmed Rehab
WHERE: First United Methodist Church at Chicago Temple, 77 West Washington Street, Chicago
ROOM: Silk Road Rising theater space, basement level
ADMISSION: Free, but seating is limited. RSVP to reserve seating, https://goo.gl/3w3ESZ
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