2026 college essay contest: 8th place — Ava Jackson
Religion is not a failsafe
FFRF awarded Ava $500.
By Ava Jackson
At the National Prayer Breakfast, President Trump declared, “To be a great nation, you have to have religion. You have to have faith. You have to have God.” His claim reflects not truth, but rather a Christian nationalist sentiment where religion is used to disguise and excuse, oftentimes, immoral acts. Overall, his statement is undoubtedly wrong and does nothing more than showcase the shallowness of his words, actions and ideas.
Trump himself proves that even when subscribing to a religion, you can still commit wrongdoings and have moral failings. Religion has never been a failsafe against bad occurrences, and it is incorrect to claim that religion alone will provide success for a nation. When considering what makes a good country, what would Trump even consider the baseline? Low unemployment? Lower cost of living? Affordable housing and health care? Whatever the qualifications may be, it is practically impossible to say that the United States, currently being run by Christian nationalists who want to impose their will on the people, meets them.
What makes a country is not a dogmatic belief but rather qualified leadership and policy that helps the people, reflecting that the public servants are doing their jobs — serving their constituents.
Slavery was justified through religion. Was the United States a good country then? Most forms of imperialism in African countries were associated with Christianity. Desmond Tutu said, “When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the bible, and we had the land. They said, ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the bible and they had the land.”
Were countries like Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and so many more “good countries,” when we consider the historic presence of religion, yet consistent absence of morality when committing atrocities against the people of Africa? Outside of history and the blatant hypocrisy of the statement, it raises the question of the true character of Trump and anyone who believes the sentiment above.
Following the National Prayer Breakfast, the president said that “There is no reason to be good” other than to prove yourself to God. This makes me wonder if there were no organized religion at all, would any of these self-proclaimed Christian nationalists be good people, and even want to contribute to making a good country? Why does one need the fear of hell and eternal punishment to motivate one to be a good person and help others? If there was no other reason to be good, then why are atheists or agnostics able to withhold from destroying others’ livelihoods as Trump is doing, even with the supposed presence of religion?
Regardless of what Trump says, it’s clear that it rarely reflects the reality of the majority of Americans he addresses. His statements about religion are thinly veiled sentiments of alt-right ideas and conservatism that aim at transforming the country back into a nation run by white male Christian nationalists, where anyone who does not fit that mold or disagrees suffers at the hands of people who use scripture to justify it.
Ava, 19, attends Howard University and is majoring in history.
“I enjoy playing the violin in the university’s orchestra, as well as the piano and guitar,” Ava writes. “As a member of the organization Black Girls Vote, I have a passion for civic engagement. I have a background in STEM research, as I worked at St. Jude Children’s Hospital, where I studied sickle cell anemia and beta thalassemia during the summer of 2024. I work at the Black Press Archives, where I survey and catalogue Black-run newspapers for the means of digitization.”
