What it Means for Me to Be a Christian and a Feminist (in Five Minutes or Less)

Last school year I was asked to share as part of a panel on Intersectional Feminism—that is, various aspects of our identity that intersect with our feminist views and produce unique and complex variants. I was specifically approached because many of my colleagues know that I am a fairly conservative (by their standards) Christian. I had about five minutes to share, and this is roughly what I said.

The foundational document for the Christian faith is the Bible, and at the beginning of this book we learn about how God created the world and made men and women in his image, different but of equal value to Him. Humans were design to uniquely reflect the nature of God to all creation through their relationship to one another, and they enjoyed life in this beautiful world, conversing with God regularly like they were his own children. Sadly, the relationship between God and humans and between the man and the women became broken. The rest of the Bible weaves the beautiful narrative of God's great redemption plan—not only to repair the brokenness between men and women, but to restore the broken relationship between mankind and God.

So you may have observed that Christians have a reputation for being rather anti-feminist. This is largely because the feminist movement as a whole is aligned with certain platforms and principles that disagree with Christian values. The most common example of this are views surrounding abortion. And so because Christians agree with a particular aspect of the larger feminist movement, they reject all feminist ideas outright. But I think this is a terrible shame. It truly breaks my heart because at its core, feminism is the idea that men and women have equal value and should be treated equally. This is not just a feminist idea, it is actually a Biblical idea. And as such, it is one that I am compelled to uphold.

The Bible teaches that Christians should love their neighbor, fight on behalf of the oppressed, and champion what God values. As a feminist, I believe I can do more to reflect the image of God and his loving nature to those around me by advocating for diversity and supporting the equal treatment of women than by focusing on points of dissension.