The article “Whither Wheaton? An Evangelical College Ponders its Future” was written by McFarlan Miller and published in Religionnews.com. It focuses on Wheaton College, which is considered a progressive institution. The college admitted women in the 19th century and was a stop on the Underground Railroad. The first president of the college, Jonathan Blanchard, was a crusader for social reform. As the 20th century approached, the school and its faith became more conservative under the thought that they were under siege. Even though the institution became conservative, this has not made it refrain from engaging and remaining connected to the current trend.
The school is also renowned for its efforts in trying to keep the liberal arts alive. In the liberal arts field, the school has been vocal and remains as the main opposition. The institution has made public statements on controversial issues, such as biblical inerrancy or evolution. Wheaton has long been referred to as the “Evangelical Harvard" because of the good reputation that its high-quality graduates have. Some of the notable alumni of the institution include evangelical luminaries, such as Ruth Bell Graham John Piper and Rob Bell. Due to these factors, Wheaton is among the top religious based institutions of higher learning in the world (Emily). The institution is fully invested in keeping religion to the fore as compared to most Catholic or Methodist universities. The institution carries some form of prestige because it produces the best religious leaders within the state. The society views students from the institution as people with very high levels of integrity. The students from Wheaton College are considered to be diligent and perform their duties at the highest level possible due to the training they undergo at school.
According to Walter Benjamin, for a piece of art to be considered great, it must encompass many concepts such as authenticity, aura or even reproduction. The Wheaton College is an institution that was formed based on Christian morals, and this acts as proof of its authenticity. The institution has been in existence since the 19th century and has been training students in liberal arts as well as religion. The continuity of the organization has made it become a trusted institution where young adults can undertake their college education.
Recently, the institution had a conflict within itself where one lecturer, Hawkins, was put on leave, and the process of her termination commenced. Hawkins was put on a mandatory leave because she posted a photo on her Facebook page where she wore a Hijab and put a controversial caption on the photo. The caption stated: “I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God (Emily).” Later on, Hawkins added other posts reaffirming her view that Muslims and Christians worship the same God.
The issue has brought about mixed feeling with people having different views on her comments. The most affected are the students because they do not know the side to support given the dilemma presented. Some of the students are strong supporters of Hawkins while others support the institution. On the other hand, some support Hawkins; idea but not her execution of the idea while others support the institution’s idea but not its way of handling the situation (Emily). Other groups have even said that the incident was about racism and sexism because Hawkins is the first female tenured professor at Wheaton. The institution has come out in its defense stating that Wheaton sees its faculty as the main threat to the religious character of its institution carefully selecting and monitoring professors based on their theology.
In my opinion, I think that the current American culture is not that authentic. The current changing cultural trends among the people in the United States have been greatly influenced by the increasing immigration of people to the country. Every year, many people move to the United States either for education purposes or to seek employment. Over many years, the culture of the United States has been reduced to a culture of accommodating different cultures. When people migrate to the United States, they carry with them the culture of their ethnic community from their country of origin.
The different cultures have created a sense of confusion among the citizens of the United States because the people do not have a uniform culture where they can turn to when they lack direction. In the above case study, the members of the faculty, as well as the students, are confused because the students have different religions as well as different cultures. In the modern society of the United States, religion is fading by the day, and that is why there was a debate about the issues facing the institution. The multi-religion culture of the United States has greatly caused confusion on the sensitivity of the public towards people with different religions from them. I think that Hawkins did the right thing in supporting the Muslim community because the Muslims have been facing the problem of stereotyping from the other members of the society.
I think that another cause of the downfall of the religious sensitivity is the increase in the number of atheists and their continued publicity. In the past, there were very few publicized atheists, and if there were, they remained hidden. In the modern culture, atheists publicly declare their stand and look for support and followers. The number of people in the country that have embraced atheism has greatly increased. In my opinion, these individuals are doing more harm than good to the currently existing religions. Youths will be sucked into atheism because of the conflict that currently exists between Christianity and Islam. The conflict should be solved to save religion in the United States. If the conflict continues, the youth will prefer to have no religion than to commit to a religion and get killed for it. I know that some religions are supportive of the death for one’s religion, but I think that very few individuals would be willing to do the same.
I think that the remaining skeleton of the American culture is the holidays and the language. Holidays such as Thanksgiving and Halloween still bring people together but not in the same way that religion does. As for the language, communication can be done without being necessarily tied to one another in any way.
Works Cited
Emily, Miller M. "Whither Wheaton? An Evangelical College Ponders Its Future." Religion News Service. N.p., 12 Feb. 2016. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
