2026 college essay contest: 5th place — Natalie Sowers

False prophet to the nation

FFRF awarded Natalie $1,500.

By Natalie Sowers

“You must not worship any other gods except me. You must not make any idols. Don’t worship or serve idols of any kind, because I, the Lord, am your God.” So saith The Ten Commandments in Exodus:20:1, handpicked and hand-blessed in order to guide Moses and the now-fled Israelites on their journey forward. But, now, in an era of reality TV, media sensationalism and the birth of the president as an online icon, we find ourselves worshipping at the altar of a golden calf — a symbol of religion, state and media, all inexorably combined.

In this, we find our current president, Donald Trump, who posits that, “We have to bring back religion in America. . . Bring it back stronger than ever before.” So saith The Good Lord, so saith The President, so saith The False Idol.

Religion is a fallible medium. Ask anyone who was raised Catholic and they’ll exposit endlessly on how the Protestants, Methodists, Orthodox or any other of the tens of thousands of nominations had some “good ideas,” but didn’t quite hit the mark, not in the same way their sect has. This is to say nothing about any religions that aren’t even Christian in nature. In a wealth of religious text and scholarship, how does the state decide which one it will embody and represent? How can it define that for its population, which will never fully embody the religion it seeks to uphold? What about the dissenters, the heretics, the nonreligious, the differently religious?

In practice, the state action toward that group is far more insidious: It is the elimination of it. The removal of the opposition, the spread of “The Good Word,” the conversion of the nonbeliever. What then happens when you combine that ideology with the prosecutorial power of the state? The long arm of the law? Will the suffering of the agnostic or the atheist, a minority in this Christian-based country, bring about a successful state? Does God’s blessing to the nation necessitate a tithe in blood and suffering?

“I think I’m not maybe heaven bound.”

Trump’s words echo in response to this idea. In a religious nation, in a nation which has stained itself in the removal of its smallest groups, even its leader is not heaven bound. Trump has taken on a near biblical level of fame through his use of the media, melding his prior embodiments of TV personality and God-fearing man into his role as the president, seeking to combine all three into one cult of personality. In this, he shatters his own argument. If a nation cannot be great without religion, then why does it have to rely on a man who will not practice what he preaches? Why does it need a false idol to bring about its own word?

Personally, I find this topic difficult to write about. I have been raised nonreligious all of my life, sans a short stint in a Catholic preschool, and with it have always felt some friction among my peers. I never struggled to connect, per se, but whenever I approached a religious family, there was always that air of confusion, curiosity or, perhaps, mild disgust. No, I did not spend my Sundays in the church. No, I did not pray before dinner. No, I had never been baptized and no, I would not like to be now. As such, I find it alarming how quickly the world seems to have pivoted from worshipping God into worshipping man. In fact, I find myself quite afraid of what the future may hold. It’s a dangerous world for a skeptic, especially when faced with those whose belief outstrips their empathy.

Still, I, and I alone, choose what I worship. I bend no knee, and I praise no lord, no president, no false idol.

Natalie, 18, attends Allegheny College with plans to major in psychology and neuroscience.

“I enjoy reading and writing, and am working on a passion project alongside my friends, which I hope to publish soon,” she writes. “I’ve worked since I was 15 and enjoy working alongside my dear friend Jack, as we share the workplace. I plan to pursue a master’s degree in neuroscience, and am looking to learn more about the mind and the mechanical drive behind the brain.”