All Opinion articles – Page 2
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OpinionYou CAN sit with us! What I learned from the first Woman Alive audience podcast recording about sisterhood
Yetty Afolabi recounts her experience attending the recording of the International Women’s Day special episode of the Woman Alive podcast. Through this invitation to join the WA community, Yetty reflects on the transformative power of authentic sisterhood in both celebration and vulnerability.
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Opinion‘Give to Gain’? Why this International Women’s Day slogan should trouble Christians
In this reflection on International Women’s Day, Jenny Sanders explores the tension between the global call to “Give to Gain” and the radically selfless model of giving found in Jesus’ Kingdom. As 8th March invites celebration and action, she challenges us to consider whether our generosity is transactional, or truly shaped by unconditional love.
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Opinion‘A “Christian cult” group targeted me on LinkedIn’
Alem Derege reflects on two unsettling encounters with the secretive religious group Shincheonji, which both The Church of England and Alpha’s Nicky Gumbel have named a ‘cult’. She shares a personal warning about spiritual manipulation, online recruitment tactics and the importance of discernment.
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OpinionBefore I became a Christian, America's Next Top Model star Jay Manuel told me I needed to ‘suffer for fashion’
Watching the Netflix documentary on America’s Next Top Model stirred up complicated memories for Hope Bonarcher, memories shaped by her own years working as a professional model long before she became a Christian. Reflecting on the gap between reality TV and the real modelling world, she shares how faith, perseverance, and personal conviction shaped a very different path from the one portrayed on screen.
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Opinion‘Woman Alive featured the faith story of my grandmother in 1996, and it inspired my own relationship with God’
Brooke Singleton traces how her grandmother’s radical obedience to God, captured decades ago in Woman Alive, shaped her own life of faith.
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OpinionA cry for freedom from Iran
Iranian Christian, Attieh Fard shares the anguish and hope surrounding Iran’s uprising, calling for urgent action and solidarity with those fighting for freedom.
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OpinionFaithful in the small things: from plumbing to parliament
When Hannah Spencer of the Green Party traded pipe wrenches for a seat in Westminster, it made headlines, but it also echoed a deeper biblical pattern. Writer, Alex Noel explores how God often uses the hidden faithfulness of ordinary work as preparation for extraordinary callings.
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OpinionHow understanding attachment theory helped me to ‘love my neighbour’
Writer Katie Gauden reflects on how our attachment patterns shape the way we see ourselves and others. She explores how growing in security can help us live out Jesus’ call to love more fully.
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OpinionWhat the BAFTA debate has taught me as a Black Christian living with mild Tourette’s
In the wake of controversy at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, writer Tabby Kibugi reflects on what it means to stand at the intersection of racial justice and disability as a Black Christian living with mild Tourette’s Syndrome. Drawing on her own experience, she challenges believers to resist ranking suffering and instead embody a Christ-centred compassion big enough to hold both justice and mercy at once.
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OpinionA question of conscience in the RE classroom
Writer Becky Hunter Kelm reflects on the first Northern Ireland primary teacher in a decade to withdraw from teaching Religious Education, using a conscience clause within the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986. She considers what the decision means for how RE is taught in today’s schools.
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OpinionShame must change sides: Tamar, Gisèle Pelicot, and the courage to bring injustice into the light
Writer Michelle Tant reflects on the courage of women who refuse to carry misplaced shame, drawing a powerful line between ancient Scripture and contemporary calls for justice. In this piece, she weaves together the story of Tamar in Book of Genesis and the public stand of Gisèle Pelicot to argue that, both biblically and today, shame must finally change sides.
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OpinionGo analogue for Lent
Philippa Strachan invites us to consider how an “analogue Lent” might help us slow down and truly prepare our hearts for Easter. With wisdom and gentleness, she challenges us to step back from digital distraction and rediscover the sacred gift of presence — with God, with others, and with our own souls.
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Opinion‘I was devastated when I didn’t get on to Britain’s Next Top Model but maybe my rejection was a blessing in disguise’
Since graduating, Woman Alive editor Tola-Doll Fisher has straddled work as a model and journalist. The recent America’s Next Top Model documentary on Netflix has given her a terrifying view of the life she might have had if her modelling career had taken off the way she once prayed for.
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OpinionThe five spiritual attacks I faced when fasting during Lent
Denise Jelinek shares from personal experience how the struggles of Lent are often signs of spiritual growth, not failure. She helps readers recognize and overcome common spiritual attacks that arise when we draw closer to God.
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OpinionReality Check: America’s Next Top Model and the search for true beauty
In Netflix’s Reality Check, writer Maxine Harrison examines the legacy of America’s Next Top Model, the hit series created by Tyra Banks that promised young women a shot at superstardom but left many grappling with lasting trauma. As former contestants revisit their experiences, the documentary raises deeper questions about identity, worth and what it really means to be beautiful in a culture obsessed with perfection.
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OpinionThe Curfew: When fear becomes law, who saves our souls?
Writer Anna Rees reflects on The Curfew, the Channel 5 adaptation of Jayne Cowie’s dystopian novel, exploring a Britain where men are legally confined indoors after 7pm in the name of women’s safety. As this dark feminist utopia unfolds, Rees probes a deeper moral question: can a society governed by suspicion and control ever deliver the justice and restoration that faith demands?
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OpinionSouth Korea, and the value of every woman amid the birth rate crisis
Becky Hunter Kelm responds to a Korean official’s suggestion to “import foreign women” to address the nation’s declining birth rate, calling it a proposal that contradicts God’s heart for women and families.
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OpinionFaith, truth and the temptation to romanticise in Wuthering Heights
Writer Alex Noel suggests that “Wuthering Heights” gives us what we want, but not what we need. Through a lens of faith, the contrast between Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and Emerald Fennell’s romantic adaptation reveals how easily truth is traded for comfort.
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OpinionGreat Sexpectations: How do I become a Christian?
In our fortnightly column ‘Great Sexpectations’ we answer your questions on sex, faith and intimacy. Drop us an email on womanalive@premier.org.uk and ask us anything. Here, the Woman Alive team responds to someone looking for God.
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Opinion‘I am about to turn 50, and looking back over my life I wish I had worried less, because God has looked after me miraculously’
Writer Samantha Bailie-McMurdock discovers that the very moments she once feared most were often the clearest demonstrations that God was firmly in control all along.
