Professor suspended for wearing hijab fires back at Christian college: 'Faith, hope, and love. These remain'

A Christian college professor was suspended by the evangelical college where she works after she decided to wear a hijab in solidarity with Muslims.

Professor Larycia Hawkins explained on Facebook last week that she was wearing the hijab to work at Wheaton College as a part of her Advent Worship to "stand in human solidarity with my Muslim neighbor because we are formed of the same primordial clay, descendants of the same cradle of humankind--a cave in Sterkfontein, South Africa that I had the privilege to descend into to plumb the depths of our common humanity in 2014."

"I invite all women into the narrative that is embodied, hijab-wearing solidarity with our Muslim sisters--for whatever reason," she wrote. "A large scale movement of Women in Solidarity with Hijabs is my Christmas wish this year."

In a statement on Tuesday, Wheaton College revealed that Hawkins had been suspended.

"In response to significant questions regarding the theological implications of statements that Associate Professor of Political Science Dr. Larycia Hawkins has made about the relationship of Christianity to Islam, Wheaton College has placed her on administrative leave, pending the full review to which she is entitled as a tenured faculty member," the statement said.

Hawkins spoke out in a Facebook post on Wednesday following her suspension.

"Faith, hope, and love. These remain," the professor wrote. "But the greatest of these is love."

Hawkins said that it had been her "sincere privilege to walk in solidarity with each of you."

"New friends, old friends, and colleagues at Wheaton College--thanks for your encouragement," Hawkins noted. "Current and former students--how do I love thee? You already know the answer to that question. But in case you've forgotten, you, you, you inspire me everyday. That, my dears, will never change."

"Your sister in solidarity with the hijab," she concluded.