This past weekend, I had the honor of being a bridesmaid in my first wedding, seeing a young woman who is like an older sister to me commit her life to the man of her dreams, first and foremost before God.

Weddings, in a traditional sense, are religious ceremonies. So, talk of God and religion was at the forefront of the conversation, especially on the weekend of the Easter holiday.

Coming from a conservative Christian family, many have questioned my role as a feminist, and have been rather concerned about what this means for me and my beliefs.

Love.

That is the only single word that I can use to describe my alliance with feminism and my role as a follower of God.

For me, being a feminist and a Christian entails openness, and fighting for all humans to have the right to pursue what they love and what ultimately makes them happy, even if their beliefs differ from my own.

But should we not find our happiness primarily in Christ?

Personally, I feel as if God has called on me to love as he loves.

God loves all of his children, which is something that many seem to have forgotten amidst all of the other universal truths provided by the Bible.

As a Christian, I possess my own set of beliefs about how I am to lead my life and what principles and values will help me personally attain happiness.

With that being said, however, who am I to say I know it all?

If I am met with a disagreement on a religious or human issue, which should be parallels not polars, I try to look at things through God’s loving and merciful eyes. Because while God is the only one who can give infinite, unconditional love, he is also the only one who can judge our actions and teach us our life’s lessons accordingly.

In response to my open mindedness, my cousin said something to me at the wedding that has stuck with me since: “Believing in everything is the same as believing in nothing.”

While this may be true, and I do believe certain things to be innately true to me as a Christian, I would much rather love as God does than pretend I can judge as he does.

Loving thy neighbor and spreading God’s loving word in this sense is much more productive for me than building walls and creating barriers out of fear of sin or condemnation. Because after all, we are all sinners.

Whatever God you do or don’t believe in, we all ultimately come from the same one. So let us submit to our insignificance and powerlessness and choose love and acceptance in all circumstances, as I believe God would intend.

ALI SMITH

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