I have loved Jesus since I was a very little girl. I took him into my heart at a Vacation Bible School one summer at a Baptist Church. I should remember the age, but alas cannot. As a little girl I wanted to be a boy. Because they could do anything and had the power to do so. I then was told by several good mentors and my grandma, you can do anything. I believed them. Although I had teachers tell me otherwise. I held firm. I have always fought for social justice. Even as a child this lay heavily on my heart and I spoke out. This does not make one popular. ESPECIALLY at church. This is hard for me.
Recently I have been more curious about feminism and its history, so of course BOOKS. A lot of reading has taken place and it was actually renewed and spurred up by two things. The cancelling of an Amazon television series and our current state of politics.
When GOOD GIRLS REVOLT was cancelled I immediately wanted to read the book and did. I learned so very much! I then read Feminist Quotations which was empowering and educational. The next book, Florynce “Flo” Kennedy: The Life of a Black Feminist Radical (Gender and American Culture) by Sherie M. Randolph. I read this book because of this review “Florynce Kennedy is one of the founders of modern feminism, yet too few people now know her spirit and words, her courageous and outrageous example. I was lucky to have her as a teacher and friend. You will be, too, once you meet her in the pages of Sherie Randolph’s welcome and important biography.” –Gloria Steinem. This was someone I never even knew about. What a fascinating story. I highly recommend it. I had read Jesus Feminist by Sarah Bessey several years ago, as soon as it came out, and LOVED it, it was the first time I had read about feminism and the Bible together. I was so relieved. I wasn’t alone! I just finished reading Faithfully Feminist .
Faithfully Feminist was way more than I was planning on for an educational read. I cried while reading this. So much of it hit me to my very core. The following are some of the passages from the book. Some that are what I am feeling, what I wish I could say as eloquently in the moment as these women have and aligns with the fact that Christianity has broken my heart. I love Jesus. The fact that I am ashamed to use the word Christian, is deplorable. As I am a lover and follower of Jesus, my hope is the church will turn around. That Christianity will have good connotations again. That it will be the light in the port of so much darkness.
Passages from Faithfully Feminist:
Angela Yarber, “All churches fail when they exclude the voices of the oppressed, when they do not affirm the gendered bodies of women and sexual minorities in the pulpit, when they turn their heads at the sigh of black eyes on the faces of queer youth, when they act as though it is acceptable for every face in the congregation to be white, and when they continue to tolerate injustice in the name of tolerating all view points and theologies. While I continue to work for change and justice where I believe the church has failed, it is with much longing and heartache that I offer these words to the church: Say something, I’m giving up on you.”
Marcia W. Mount Shoop, “I stay in the church for the same reasons it is hard to be in the church-because I am a Jesus follower. For me, that statement of identity permeates every part of who I am. Being a Jesus follower shapes my social ethics and my commitments to justice…………Jesus shows me the way to of healing, the way of love and compassion…………”
Amanda Quraishi, “I’ve been asked before why I stay in a religion that consistently relegates me to a second class status, and my answer is simple: I shouldn’t have to give up on God and my faith community just because religious scholars have failed to recognize my innate worth in their interpretations of Islam. Does that make me stubborn? A trouble-maker? So be it. I’m in good company.”
Aisha C Saeed, also author of Written in the Stars , ” At the end of the day everyone is allowed their opinion of me, but what matters isn’t what they see; what matters is what I see………..”
These books have changed me or given me hope, courage and validation. That to me is priceless. Read any one of the above mentioned books. If nothing else to gain insight and empathy to women of faith. Of people struggling to attend church, and what that means, and why.
Please know that Jesus loves you, where you are, right now in this moment. And although my faith in Christianity is at an all time low. My faith in Jesus is strong. It does NOT waiver. I will continue to fight as a feminist for all the social justice causes that are close to my heart and make sure that there is equality for all who live in this country.
Peace.
