I am a feminist. An unapologetic, bold and sometimes radical supporter of gender equality.

I am also a Christian. An outgoing, fierce, fire-in-my-belly Christ follower.

And I do not at all think that those terms are contradictory. In fact, I think that the Bible is one of the most pro-women, gender equal books in the world (despite what my Facebook friends may say). Now, you’re probably ready to throw a ton of ‘sexist’ Bible verses at me (Eph 5:22-24, Gen 3:16, Lev 12:5), but upon further inspection, we can actually see that not only are these verses not exactly what they seem to be in terms of sexist ideologies, but that the Bible strongly supports political, economic, and social equality of the sexes (the definition Emma Watson gave for feminism at her UN speech in 2014).

Now, of course, I’m not a Bible scholar. And I definitely don’t claim to speak for God. But I do think that the Bible encourages gender equality. In Genesis 1:27, it states that, “God created them in His image; male and female He created them.” This shows that God created both men AND women in His image. And in Galatians 3:28, the Bible says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” These verses, among others, (Acts 10:34-35, Eph 5:21, and Romans 2:11), show that God in no way places men higher than women in His divine plan. In fact, in Genesis 3:16, which is one of the most common verses I get quoted to prove how sexist the Bible is, God makes it clear that the man will rule over the woman not as part of His Plan, but as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden.

Now, the Bible has a lot of stuff to say about gender roles and what is and isn’t appropriate for men and women to do. I get it, telling men not to have long hair and women that they’re unclean after childbirth and their periods. Not to mention, the rule that says women are to be silent and not be leaders in the church. But these rules were based much more on cleanliness standards and hygiene in the Old Testament (with laws that applied to both men and women based on different ailments and conditions they suffered from), and Pharisaic Law in the New Testament. In fact, in Mark 15:40-41 and Luke 8:1-3, Jesus directly rebukes this law the Pharisees have created by encouraging women to join Him and His disciples and minister the Gospel.

It seems clear that throughout the Bible, gender equality is not only affirmed, but encouraged as part of God’s original plan for both men and women to serve Him by affirming His likeness in the world and spreading His message. And that’s where the Bible can be used as defense for feminism more than anything else. Jesus says that the greatest commandment of all is to love, both God and your neighbor (which means everyone). And love is what the feminist movement all about. Feminist author, Bell Hooks says in her book "Feminism is for Everybody" that feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression, or basically, to love everybody, regardless of who they are, what they look like and what gender they identify with.

So, Christians, whether you agree with someone or not; whether your politics line up with your friends, colleagues, classmates, or family; whether you believe that someone’s lifestyle lines up with God’s plan or not, God calls us to love, and feminism encourages us to fight for everyone to have equal rights. These ideas work hand-in-hand. And we ought to be proud to call ourselves feminists, loving all people like Christ first loved us.