2025 grad student essay contest — Honorable mentions
Here are excerpts from the honorable mentions in the 2025 FFRF student essay contest for graduate/older students.
By Bailey Diaz
Christian nationalism existed in the United States long before the Trump administration, but has been brought to the forefront of conservative politics in recent decades, and now poses a threat to public health.
Science, and, by extension, public health initiatives are data driven and do not adhere to the moral standards of any religion or ideology. As such, Christian nationalists perceive scientifically backed policy as a restriction of their religious freedom and more broadly as a threat to the rule of Christian values in the United States.
Trump’s appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the United States secretary of Health and Human Services represents a step away from scientific evidence driven health recommendations toward a Christian nationalist approach to public health initiatives.
Discrediting scientific authorities with pseudoscientific claims is a foundational principle of Christian nationalism. The goal of this practice, within the framework of public health, is to transfer moral authority from the scientific community to autocratic leaders so they may legitimize and enact belief-based practices in alignment with Christian nationalist ideology.
Bailey, 25, attends San Jose State University and is working toward a master’s degree in occupational therapy.
By Lewis Luis
LGBTQ+ people face substantial increases in discrimination because of rhetoric from both the Trump base and evangelical Christians. Trans people especially face increased scrutiny. In fact, Trump signed an executive order called “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” This order, signed on day one of Trump Version 2, attempts to end legal recognition of transgender and nonbinary persons in federal law. This would allow for legal discrimination of these persons in the workplace. Additionally, it would also include discrimination in federal health care, education and housing, which creates a dangerous position for trans people.
The order has direct roots to Christian nationalism. The framing of the order is also isolationist as it claims to defend women from extremism of a gender ideology. This order creates a dangerous precedent — note the already increased rate of hate crimes — and it becomes clear that Christian nationalism, Trumpism and Project 2025 are all children in a trench coat guising themselves as independent movements.
Lewis, 27, attends City College of New York while working toward a master’s in electrical engineering.
By Jeremiah J. Moore
Christian nationalism emerged as a key motivator behind anti-DEI activism. It conflates white racial identity with conservative Christian ideology, casting DEI as a secular threat to a fantasy of a Christian nation. From this perspective, policies aimed at equity are understood not as inclusive measures, but rather as assaults on a white Christian identity. Language around religion is used to argue that DEI discriminates against Christians, appealing to a false narrative of victimization and hiding an agenda of maintaining cultural hegemony.
The history of Christianity’s abuse is a track record of legitimizing slavery, segregation, colonialism and the subjugation of women and LGBTQ folks. This is why today’s backlash against DEI brings that legacy back. The political deployment of religion as a means of social power and social control rather than informed living of moral codes is again at play. Rather than risk explicit racial supremacy in their political agenda, white nationalists and conservative leaders often wrap the ideals in rhetoric of “faith and freedom,” broadening the appeal of a white supremacist agenda by masking its exclusionary intentions under the guise of religious values.
Jeremiah, 26, attends University of North Carolina at Pembroke and is working toward his master’s degree in social work.
By Morgan Wegner
Encouraged by authorities such as President Trump, Christian nationalists are empowered to believe that they are true Americans where others are not. People who do not fit the white, cisgender, heteronormative box are vilified with fearmongering tactics that present them as a threat to the Christian American way of life. Christianity itself is not inherently anti-LGBTQ+. However, Christian beliefs tend to tie sexuality and gender expression with morality, perceiving the LGBTQ+ community as anti-Christian and immoral.
On Jan. 29, Trump signed an executive order called “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” that threatens to cut off federal funding to schools that supported LGBTQ youth and/or implement lessons the order describes as “‘anti-American ideologies,’ including education that is ‘based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.
Our children are dying at the hands of hatred and discrimination. This order is not only validating people who hate and discriminate, it also discourages allies from stepping in out of fear of collective punishment.
Morgan, 26, attends Upper Iowa University and is working toward a master of science degree in clinical counseling.
