Something Wicked: Why Feminism Can't Be Fused with Christianity

by Carrie Gress

The culture wars have raged for decades, but with seemingly little success. Christians are losing the cultural battle for family, life, and faith. But why?

In this riveting look at the underbelly of feminism, Dr. Carrie Gress lays out why pro-life and pro-family efforts have failed to deliver. Feminism has quietly captured the minds and hearts of women by mimicking aspects of Christianity. Through its own “commandments,” “virtues,” “evangelization,” and even “a sacrament,” feminism has become an exceedingly powerful megachurch.

While Christians have targeted the specific products of the feminist ideology, such as abortion and transgenderism, we have missed the bigger picture of how feminism’s shadow church has captured the psyche of Western women.

Feminism is all too often perceived, even among Christians, as something virtuous that affords women true equality and freedom. Dr. Gress overturns this misconception, smashing the idol of feminism and exposing its deeply anti-Christian origins.

Drawing from history, psychology, philosophy, culture, and common sense, Dr. Gress

How early feminists opposed traditional Christianity and espoused occultic practicesSix ways feminism has become its own religion that mimics the Christian faithWhy the feminist idol of women’s autonomy can never lead to happinessHow the prioritization of masculine virtues devalued the vital gifts of womenWhat happens when Christians try to blend their faith with feminismWhy the restless search for identity by many adrift in culture is really a grasping for homeThe vital role that men and the patriarchy play in meeting the needs of all of societyDr. Gress lays out solutions to how womanhood can be viewed afresh, without feminism’s menace, healing the ever-growing rift between the sexes, reconnecting the essential bond of empathy between mother and child, and restoring God to his rightful place in the hearts of all women.

Genres: Nonfiction, Theology, Feminism, Christianity, Cultural, Catholic, Religion

256 pages, Hardcover

Published January 20, 2026

About the author

Carrie Gress is a Fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based think-tank, Ethics and Public Policy Center and a Scholar at the Institute for Human Ecology at Catholic University of America.

Carrie Gress has a doctorate in philosophy from the Catholic University of America and was the Rome bureau chief of Zenit's English edition. She is the co-author with George Weigel of City of Saints: A Pilgrimage to John Paul II s Krakow and the author of Nudging Conversions, published by Beacon Publishing in 2015.

A mother of four, she and her family live in Virginia.

Reviews

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. The main point is that as the subtitle says Feminism is not compatible with Christianity. In fact as the book points out it is working against it from its 1st wave roots to the very current time. The founders for example hated the Christian way and found it to be slavery.

The book traces the waves of feminism and the ever expanding philosophy that want to cancel out all others. This philosophy now encourages the outright competition and cancelation of men while having women try to act or be more like men.

Feminism now has cast women as only being fulfilled when they work and have their own money do not have the shackles of kids or even the need for a man. This has led to many unhappy women and men for that matter who try to fill the vacuum with lesbian lovers or multiple lovers etc. This has led to a much more medicated and suicidal group of women.

Chapter 4 is brilliant, withe the 3 commandments:
1. Thou shalt be promiscuous. This leads to high body counts and a make and break pattern that is hard to undo. It points out that it leads to hating men while becoming like them. Shallow and only wanting to satisfy a bases sexual desire.

2. Thou shalt hate men:
This chapter points out how feminism has, maybe without knowing it ruined men and by disallowing their God given directives of protecting (women), providing, and procreating. see pg 91. During the sexual revolution this gave men great access to sex but without clear direction of who to protect and provide for. This is most obvious in the black community where there are very few real fathers of households.

3. Thou shalt engage in the occult:
I had no idea about the long history of connection of feminism and the occult. It makes sense though as furtherance of destruction of image of God in humans.
I learned of celebrities who are open about their occult involvement: Gisele Bundchen called herself a "witch of love" Actress Emma Watson publicly expressed her gratitude for her coven. Vanessa Hudgens of series Dead Hot about witches and spirits filmed in Salem Massachusetts.

This book is well worth a re-read. It goes far past its subtitle to highlight the impossibility of fusion of Feminism and Christianity to solutions for us as Christians and our response to the pressure of the world to be like them.

The section on new neurological look at left and right human brain theory is fascinating. How we all need both left and right brain harmony to be complete humans in God's image. This is take it seems from the book by McGilchrist "The Master and His Emissary"

I am not sure what to do with chapter 8 on Pope John Paul II and the broader topic of what to do with Catholicism. I took away 2 things: 1. I am not Catholic, this I knew but ... 2. Not everything Catholic is bad and we can learn much from the Catholics who love our Savior.

Contents:
Introduction

Part I The New Woman
1. Dismantling Christianity (1790-1900)
2. Building the New Woman (1900-1960)

Part II The Shadow Church
3. A New Idol: Autonomy
4. Three Commandments
5. The Sacred Rite: Work
6. The Gospel of Discontent and the Sacrament of Abortion

Part III Christian Feminism
7. Christian Feminist Fusion
8. Pope John Paul II's New Feminism

Part IV Restoration
9. Ideological Exit
10. Restoring What has been Lost

[Auguste Meyrat · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, to my surprise, this book doesn't actually talk about the musical Wicked (the title and the rainbow on the cover threw me off), though it does mention The Wizard of Oz in a couple of places. This is fine. Actually, Gress goes to work examining the ideological roots of feminism, which turn out to to be Enlightenment Rationalism and Marxism. This puts the movement at odds with Christianity since both sources are distinctively anti-Christian and often anti-woman.

Gress is a talented and clear writer who approaches her subject with a wealth of knowledge. Still, I wish she handled more of the common objections that stress the victories of the feminist movements (like voting and access to the professions) instead of going into the weeds of the phenomenological philosophies of St. Edith Stein and St. John Paul II. Maybe the hope was to rise above these disputes and go deeper? I guess this is fine for the most part, this is fine, but it can feel a little academic and dry sometimes.

All that said, it's still a great read and highly informative for anyone interested in this important issue.