I am a Christian. I believe that I cannot save myself from the sin and wrongdoings I constantly struggle with. I believe that the only person that could save me is a perfect God who came to earth in the form of a man. He died in my place in order to save me. I have asked Him to save me, and now He dwells inside of me. And because I have accepted God’s free gift of salvation, one day I will spend eternity with Him.
I also consider myself to be a feminist. I believe that God has created people to be “neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, [neither] male and female” but He has created us to be “one in Christ Jesus” and of equal value to Him (Galatians 3:28 NIV). I believe that females should be given equal opportunities as anyone else and should be treated equally as human beings.
I’ve often heard Christians talking about feminism and struggling with whether or not they should consider themselves to also be a feminist. Once I overheard a conversation between a teenage girl and her mother. The teenager said, “I’ve been seeing all of these girls post about feminism on Facebook, and I really want to be a part of it but I’m just not sure.” Her mother’s response really took me by surprise: “Don’t buy into it. It is so unbiblical.” To think that feminism is unbiblical is to think that God favors men and merely created women for decoration. Both men and women play an equally important role in the kingdom of God. While these roles are often different, they are both important.
In the media, feminists are often portrayed as pro-abortionists, anti-men, and riotous women. No wonder it is hard for Christian women to buy into this idea. Feminists have been given a bad reputation that sometimes even saying “I am a feminist” can feel dirty. Feminists should not be stereotyped. Feminists come in all shapes and sizes, all different backgrounds, and even different genders! The feminists portrayed in the media are not the only version of a feminist there is. You have the freedom to choose for yourself what kind of feminist you want to be.
Christianity and feminism can often be made to feel like two polar opposites. In a way, maybe they will never go perfectly hand in hand. But I think that God planned it that way on purpose. God wants for us, His people to be set apart from the world and to not be conformed to its ways (Romans 12:2). If Christians perfectly fit in with every feminist, potentially God could be forgotten and feminism worshiped in His place. Maybe we as Christians don’t perfectly fit with feminists, but that doesn’t mean we can't be feminists.