As a Christian feminist, I believe in a Greater Being, an Ultimate Creator, who I call God, and for whom I use feminine pronouns.
I believe this Greater Being is so great as to surpass gender—a human and thus limiting concept—and as a Greater Being beyond gender, both masculine and feminine pronouns are appropriate. Plural pronouns are also acceptable to use for God.
I believe we’re all worshipping the same God, just with different names.
I believe that God appears to us at different times and in different forms. We are not all the same people, with the same backgrounds, in the same cultures or time periods. Why would God appear to us in the exact same way? God appears to us in the way we need Her to appear to us.
I believe that God created* men and women to be equals, to be partners. I believe that patriarchy is a result of sin.
I believe Jesus is the Son of God. I believe Jesus was a man because no one would have listened to a woman proclaiming she was the Daughter of God.
I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe in His resurrection.
I believe that accepting Christ and His sacrifice on the cross is the best path to eternal life, but not necessarily the only one.
I do not believe my atheist husband is destined for hell.
I believe in a God of love. I believe in loving my neighbor** as myself.
I believe the Bible is divinely inspired, but humanly flawed. I only accept biblical interpretations that promote love and equality, not hate or subjugation. I read the Bible with the historical and cultural context in mind. Why would we accept that verses on slavery were cultural, but verses on women’s submission are for all time, when those verses are literally right next to each other?
Today I challenge you not only to celebrate God’s love for you, but to celebrate God’s love for all of us. Jesus didn’t die on the cross for only the good, or the wealthy, or the beautiful, or the smart people.
Jesus died for all of us, because we are all sinners.
All of us.
Thus we should spend less time judging, less time condemning, and more time forgiving, more time accepting.
And no, it’s not “loving” to discriminate against one group of people who are not hurting anyone or impacting your life in any way, just because you disagree with their biology.
If we all focused on loving our neighbors, and truly treating others as we want to be treated, just think of how beautiful our world would be.
*So God created humankind in His image, in the image of God He created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 NSRV.
** “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:36-39 NSRV.
For more thoughts on my beliefs as a Christian feminist, read my review of Sarah Bessey’s Jesus Feminist and check out how I reconcile faith, feminism, and freedom.
I love this post Brita! I don’t personally identify with any religion, but I was raised Catholic, so I always thought it was awful when people were interpreting God as hateful when in school and church I was being taught about God’s love.
I have a lot of problems with Catholicism and women, but I’ve learned more about Catholicism since meeting Dan and his extended family. I’m amazed at how many people skip over the focus on social justice, serving the poor, humility, etc., all of which (in my experience) is emphasized more in Catholicism than in Protestantism.
Loved this! As a teen, I never thought feminism and religious faith were compatible, because to me religion was Catholicism and it was completely sexist.
And yes, I always wonder why some writers I’ve encountered don’t see this -> “Why would we accept that verses on slavery were cultural, but verses on women’s submission are for all time, when those verses are literally right next to each other?”
And your point about not believing your atheist husband is going to hell made me chuckle. I remember reading a blog post by a friend way back when that went something like “you should NEVER date someone outside of your religion because you share NOTHING with them, especially not the afterlife.” Cue bafflement. There are just myriad ways of spirituality and countless paths for leading an ethical and compassionate life.
I was definitely raised in a sexist church, but luckily with two feminist parents who disagreed with the sexism in the church. It’s the same church that my dad’s family has been attending since his grandparents were still alive, though, so he and my mom didn’t want to cut ties with it.
The household codes are really interesting. I honestly don’t understand why people refuse to interpret them within historical context. For the time period, they were a radical departure from the secular household codes that maintained order in Roman-Greco cities.
It’s funny how many jerks and/or stupid people exist. On the one hand, I encountered an atheist troll in the comments of a Christian blog, who was telling me that if I would just read about atheism, I would realize how stupid Christianity was. When I told him I knew plenty about atheism from my atheist husband, he told me I should stop talking and only listen to my husband.
On the other hand, in the comment section of a different Christian blog, when I mentioned my husband is atheist, I had people telling me that “missionary marriages” never work out, and we were doomed for divorce.
Fun times.
Haha! Back when I was like 18, I naively thought that all atheists were rational, scientific people. How nice to know that trolls and misogynists are still everywhere. Ah, “missionary marriages,” never heard that one!
I am brand new to your blog and this was such a lovely post to read as your first post that showed up in my feed. I am excited to read more of what you write 🙂
Thank you! Welcome! I recommend checking out my sidebar which features a few of my favorite and/or most popular posts.
I also agree that we all worship the same God but under different names. For some, it may not even be “religious” – it might be fate or karma, but we all believe in some power greater than us.
Girl, this line is the most interesting to me, though: I do not believe my atheist husband is destined for hell. I tend to believe the same personally, but that thought goes against everything I “learned” in church growing up, and from what my mother says, who’s an ultra conservative. I’m not sure I believe that simply you need to be a generally good person to get into Heaven–there’s probably more to it, but I also don’t think Heaven’s bouncer puts super strict regulations on getting in, like identifying as a Christian, being baptized, etc. I don’t know, this is a tough one to wrap my mind around, but I’m totally intrigued by it. Would love to hear more about your stance. Sorry, this was much more religious comment than feminist one.
I mean, I’m a big fan of 1st Corinthians 7:14, for starters. That’s basically my insurance policy for my husband in case I’m wrong about both hell as a metaphor and all people having the chance to come before God’s judgment.
See my reply to Kelly below about how C.S. Lewis helped shape this bit of my theology.
I found this post through “The F Word” FB group and am so happy I did! I’ve been thinking about this very thing a lot lately, as a Christian myself who also identifies as Feminist. I grew up in the very conservative south and it has been a wonderful thing to learn that there are in fact other Christian ladies out there who believe the same things as me. I’m a bit too “liberal” for those back home, but I’m still quite “conservative” to those who are truly liberal. I’m stuck in a middle ground, and I actually like it quite well there.
Ha, I was born and raised in South Carolina, and I just moved to Georgia. I was one of 2 or 3 people in my feminist WGS classes in undergrad to call herself a feminist. That’s how conservative my surroundings have always been!
Welcome to my blog! Check out my sidebar for some of my most popular posts. Plus both the Love Story category and the Feminism category will pull up my feminist posts, since basically all my dating/marriage stuff is from a feminist perspective.
How exactly is a “Christian” feminist different than a non-Christian feminist?
There are many different kinds of feminists who are not Christian. Each would differ in her own way from Christian feminists. A secular feminist is different from a Jewish feminist is different from a Muslim feminist is different than a pagan feminist.
But in what ways are they different? Is what they believe different or is it in how it impacts their daily life?
The difference lies with what guides us. For those of us with a specific religious ideal, it’s our religion. Those without a religious ideal are guided by science, psychology, philosophy, and logic (this is what my atheist feminist friends told me). But, I don’t want to generalize things. Each person must decide what they believe and what guides them.
What a great idea for a link up!
I just wanted to tell you that this post made me really happy! As someone who grew up in a very conservative Christian home but who pulled away from strict theology in high school, it’s nice to see someone living an example of what I think Jesus would have honestly supported (open, accepting, believing in God but ultimately doing the best they can to help others etc.). It’s really refreshing to see a Christian who isn’t condemning others or propping up the patriarchy based on taken out of context bible verses. I definitely feel like I can identify with you on many levels and it’s really nice. Love it!
I love it! You and I are of one mind here. Joseph, being an enthusiastic historian studies theology. He told me the ancient Jewish people believe God embodies masculine and feminine qualities. I’ve always believed God represents us all. I have plenty of friends atheist, agnostic, pagan, and monotheistic. I don’t believe any of them are destined for Hell because they’re making the world a better place. When I was 21, I heard a pastor talking about women being submissive and how the women in the room cheered him on. I was disgusted! Ladies out there, no one controls your life but you! God is a guide, not a control freak. God gave you free will, so put it to good use.
Love this. Especially when it comes to women’s submission; what people don’t realize is that the verses about women’s submission were RADICAL at the time…a radical step towards women’s rights! What can come across as subjugating and demeaning now (and I do believe there is a place for submission within marriage and marital roles, but those concepts can be made to be demeaning) was LIBERATING to women at the time. Historical context is so important.