FA I T H A N D T H E A C A D E M Y: E N G A G I N G T H E C U LT U R E W I T H G R A C E A N D T R U T H
Feminism is a big enough tent to encompass different perspectives that empower women. Progressive feminist dogma leaves no room for individuals committed to religiously held views of the family, reproduction, and interpersonal relationships. Barrett is the epitome of an empowered woman, but because her religious beliefs and legal interpretations oppose certain progressive feminist dogma, she is labeled anti-feminist. Why can’t Amy Coney Barrett operate in the boundaries of the court and in the boundaries of her faith? If the personal is political, there is no line between belief and practice. But, in a secular world governed by secular law, there is most definitely a line, and to claim otherwise is disingenuous. Historically, women’s pursuit of equality in part relied heavily on Christian doctrine as both justification for full citizenship and as the foundation of the values that shaped public reform both in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Progressive feminism controls what is considered normative, the sacrament of abortion its central tenet and bedrock of progressive precepts. But, if feminism is about access and equity, then conservative feminism has a place at the table. Indeed, it is on the basis of Christianity that feminism has ground to stand on. Each person is created in the Imago Dei, thus they have equal worth and should be treated equally. Not only that, but to love one’s neighbor as oneself, at the very minimum, gives credence to the thought of extending the same rights I have to my neighbor. Feminism is not something to be feared but to be redeemed, or given feminism’s history, something to be reclaimed. With the focus of this journal on Christian public witness, the lives of Barrett and Gray reveal the importance differentiating service from self. In Matthew 22:21
Jesus said, “Render to Caesar that things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” As women continue to push for equity in various forms, this is a worthy consideration.
Elie Mystal, “Amy Coney Barrett is an extremist- just not the kind you think,” The Nation, 25 September 2020 at https://www.thenation.com/ article/politics/amy-coney-barrett-extremist/ accessed 27 October 2020. 1
“NOW Denounces Amy Coney Barrett’s Confirmation to SCOTUS,” NOW, 26 October 2020 at http://now.org/media-center/press-release/ now-denounces-amy-coney-barretts-confirmation-to-scotus/ accessed 27 October 2020. 2
Lizzie Bond, “The Conservative Case for Feminism,” Duke Political Review, October 2020 at http://www.dukepoliticalreview.org/theconservative-case-for-feminism/ accessed 20 October 2020. 3
Natalie Gontcharova, “No, There’s No Such Thing as Conservative Feminism,” Refinery29, 28 September 2020 at https://www.refinery29. com/en-us/2020/09/10055965/amy-coney-barrett-nominationconservative-feminism accessed 25 October 2020. 4
Lee Jussim, “Conservative Feminism,” Psychology Today, 19 August 2015 at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/rabble-rouser/201508/ conservative-feminism accessed 26 October 2020. 5
Judith Stacey, “The New Conservative Feminism,” Feminist Studies, Vol. 9 (Autumn, 1983), 574. 6
Gillian Thomas, “‘Four Days that Changed the World’: Unintended Consequences of a Womens’ Rights Conference,” New York Times, 6 March 2017 at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/06/books/review/ divided-we-stand-marjorie-j-spruill.html accessed 10 October 2020; Marjorie J. Spruill, Divided We Stand: The Battle over Women’s Rights and Family Values that Polarized American Politics, (New York: Bloomsbury, 2017). 7
8 Mary Macdonald Ogden, Wil Lou Gray: The Making of a Southern Progressive from New South to New Deal, (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2015).
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