Strong Women vs Christianity or Strong Women in Christianity?

With the news of Josh Duggar being a member of a couple well known extramarital affair websites, there has been a lot of talk about him, about his family, and about his wife. There is one Facebook post in particular that went viral shortly after the discovery. I thought it was a great post! We DO need to teach our daughters to be confident, be their own people, and to think they can "breathe fire!" But after reading this article about the mom that posted this status, I quickly got fired up and I'll admit it, angry. In the article she says that she hesitated to post the status because: "Being from Georgia, I have a lot of friends and family members who are devout Christians... [But] I want girls to know their worth and accept nothing less." I don't know if she meant it to come across this way or not, but to me it sounded like she didn't want to offend her Christian friends and family by saying she wanted to raise strong girls. Even if she didn't mean it that way, I feel like this is an alarming mindset more and more people seem to be developing. Does being a Christian woman mean I can't be independent and strong? Does it mean I can't have the career I want or go to the school I want? For me, being a Christian woman doesn't mean any of these things! I have been a Christian my whole life. And from the beginning, I was taught that I could be anything I wanted to be, do anything I wanted to do, and I could do it for myself, be it for myself. I know people may look at me and think that I dress modestly because the male leaders in my Church have told me to do so, so I can do my part in helping men keep their thoughts chaste. I know people may look at me and think that because I want to be a stay at home mom one day, I must not be intelligent enough to make it in the working world or that my husband demands I be home with our children. None of that is true for me! I decided to dress modestly because that is how I feel most comfortable. I decided I wanted to be a stay at home mom when we have kids because I have always wanted to be there for every moment of my children's lives and because I want to teach them to read and to think for themselves. I made these decisions for me. Not because some man told me to. I am a Christian! But I am also a very independent woman. I am happily married to a very supportive husband and we make all of our important decisions together. But his opinions do not count for more than mine. We are a team! I want to put it out there that being a Christian woman does NOT mean taking a backseat to men. It does NOT mean we can't do things for ourselves. A woman's education is just as important as a man's. I know that this isn't the case for every Christian woman. This isn't always the case for any woman, Christian or no. I know there are women that are in positions where they can't be or haven't been taught to be independent. I want that to change! And I think the first step to getting a whole generation of strong, empowered women to stop attacking other women. And to stop assuming the worst about other woman. If you aren't a Christian and you see a Christian woman, don't assume she is stuck in a powerless position because of her faith. If you are a Christian woman and you see a woman living a life that you don't "agree" with, suck it up! She is just as free to choose to not have kids and work as you are to have kids and stay at home with them. We have to stick together! Build each other up! So what if a girl is showing some cleavage? You may think it's inappropriate but for her it might make her feel strong and confident. So what if a girl is dressed modestly? You may think it's demeaning and forced on her by society. But what if that's what makes her feel strong and confident? You get my point? There are strong and amazing women from all walks of life! Being Christian or Muslim or Jewish does not mean a woman isn't just as capable as the next. Be supportive of your fellow women! The goal is to be independent so we can teach our daughters to be independent. The goal is not to teach our daughters to stay away from the religious or non-religious because their beliefs differ from ours. Diversity is a good thing! Embrace it! And until you know what a woman has been through or is going through, don't assume you know why she is the way she is. I hope we can all be a little more tolerant so we can be a little better. In the end I think we are all working for the same thing, though there are many ways to get there. Be it the stay-at-home religious mom teaching her daughter to work for what she wants, or the working mom teaching her daughter to work for what she wants, the end goal is the same.