An Opinion
by
Sylvia Dooling
“I do not think feminism and Christianity to be compatible.” So writes author Daphne Hampson.*
Her words are a blunt, attention-grabber don’t you think? They are short and to the point. Feminism and Christianity are not compatible!
I can already hear the challenges coming my way “Here we go again. The VOW network is just a bunch of rigid, frigid, fundamentalist women. And, once again, they’ve found another fundamentalist woman to endorse their narrow, bigoted viewpoint.”
If that’s what you’re thinking, you’re wrong. Daphne Hampson is an ex-Anglican who has walked away from the Christian faith. Why? Because she is a woman of intellectual integrity who understands that Christianity and feminism cannot be homogenized, harmonized, or otherwise made to correspond.
Why aren’t feminism and Christianity compatible? Because they contradict each other. Anyone familiar with the rudiments of logic knows that both sides of a contradiction may be false, but they cannot both be true.
Here is a short list of contradictions.
+——————————-+——————————————+
|Christianity |Feminism |
+——————————-+——————————————+
|God has revealed himself and |Christianity is a myth created by a |
|his will in the person of Jesus|patriarchal society. |
|Christ, and in the pages of the| |
|Bible. | |
+——————————-+——————————————+
|Sin is disobedience to God. We |Sin is not disobedience, but the bad |
|are guilty, and incapable of |things that happen to women in patriarchal|
|doing anything about it |societies. Women can solve the problem of |
|ourselves. |sin by joining together to defeat |
| |patriarchy, and to create a fair and just |
| |community. |
+——————————-+——————————————+
|Reconciliation to God comes |Women do not need a savior. A woman is her|
|only through Jesus Christ his |own savior. The thought of a sacrificial |
|life, death, resurrection, |death is repugnant. |
|session in glory, and eventual | |
|return | |
+——————————-+——————————————+
|Jesus Christ is Lord God in |A woman is her own supreme authority she |
|human flesh. He is our Supreme |must not pay homage to anyone. |
|authority. | |
+——————————-+——————————————+
|As disciples, we are called to |Submission to anyone greater than herself |
|“take up our cross,” and to|is out of the question. |
|follow our Lord in humble | |
|obedience submitting our will | |
|to his will | |
+——————————-+——————————————+