A Wheaton College employee who was hired to minister to gay and lesbian students is claiming that she was pressured to resign from the school.
Wheaton has already been under scrutiny for the resignation of professor Larycia Hawkins who created conflict when she claimed that Christians and Muslims worship “the same God.”
Christian Today reports that Wheaton employee Julie Rodgers wrote an article for Time magazine, saying that she was hired by Wheaton in 2014 as a gay Christian who also held conservative values which were in line with the school’s. She was thought to be a perfect candidate to minister to the school’s gay and lesbian students.
Rodgers claims that she was repeatedly told to limit her social media engagement in order to not cause conflict from some of the school’s donors who would not approve of Wheaton’s decision to have an openly gay woman on staff.
"Wheaton has shown flashes of courage and their choice to hire me was a brave one. What's sad is that they caved, capitulating to the fears of one part of their very broad constituency,” Rodgers stated.
Wheaton, however, responded to Rogders’ article for Time, saying that her resignation was completely voluntary and came as a surprise to the college community.
"Ms Rodgers' resignation came as a surprise to President Ryken and to the College community generally. She was not asked, encouraged, or pressured to resign. Her communication of her resignation followed the publication of a blog post that announced a significant change in her views on integrating Christian beliefs and same-sex issues,” said the statement from the college.
Photo courtesy: flickr.com
Publication date: February 24, 2016