Prominent Wheaton College in the USA embraces ‘woke’ culture
Wheaton staff and alums offended by a plaque
In 2021, Wheaton College removed a 1957 plaque honoring Christian missionaries (three were alumni) because they used the word “savage” (which means barbaric) to refer to the Huaorani tribe they shared the gospel with.
The word savage has become an offensive word
“Savage” was a common term in Western civilization until it became offensive after the Marxist-Atheist group Black Lives Matter protested in 2020.
The Huarani are indigenous from the Amazonian Region of Ecuador, different from other tribes. ‘Auca’ was their pejorative exonym used by its neighboring Quechua natives that means savage.
CHRISTIANS IN THE USA BECOMES A MINORITY IN 2021.
Critical Race Theory at Wheaton College
In 2015, Wheaton College’s first tenured Black professor Larycia Hawkins faced backlash after posting a photo wearing a hijab in solidarity with Muslims. She also wrote that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Wheaton was forced to suspend the “woke professor” as a result of the negative publicity.
Hawkins was supported by alumni and students who protested the suspension. Rev. Franklin Graham, whose father is highly regarded in Wheaton, was deeply concerned when the faculty council did not support the professor’s termination. [CP]
In 2021, Wheaton President Philip Ryken was asked if the college teaches critical race theory (CRT), and he ultimately admitted that yes. In the same year, Ryken welcomed incoming first-year students, and his speech somehow went towards racial issues, making several parents feel uncomfortable because it was out of topic.
In recent years, Wheaton College has faced scandals, student suicides, and a decline in enrollment. It has also established a Sexual & Gender Identity Institute and ‘OneWheaton,’ a network of alumni and students affirming LGBTQIA individuals.
Woke universities
Like other formerly conservative Christian colleges and Ivy League universities turned woke. For example, Calvin, Cornell, Duke, Harvard, and Princeton Universities have turned racial issues into a top priority that extends to embracing LGBTQIA ideologies.
In 2018, Ed Stetzer, Distinguished Chair of Wheaton College, opposed renowned Bible scholar John MacArthur on churches’ role in social justice reform. MacArthur rejected the advocacy for political change, while Stetzer supported CRT and Black reparations. [CL; PP]
