FFRF’s 2024 BIPOC essay contest honorable mentions
The following are excerpts from the essays of those who earned honorable mention distinction.
Jailyn Agard
In the bible, many excerpts normalize slavery. These verses have been cited as supporting evidence for the prolonging of both slavery and segregation. Those who understand this simple fact will have no issue rejecting the idea that Christianity played a role in relieving the world of racial inequality. Rather than improving the world, Christianity strongly implemented discrimination.
History proves that Christianity conserves discriminatory beliefs and refuses the change necessary for a better world. Until it changes its ways, I argue that the Christian faith has done little to nothing to lift the profound struggles of racial inequality.
Jailyn, 17, is from Irvington, N.J., and is attending Ramapo College of New Jersey in Mahwah, N.J., with plans to gets degrees in biochemistry and environmental studies.
Zyah Bostick
I remember the bigoted comments my father would make about people who “looked gay” and said that it was a sin, or how he said young women in crop tops were unholy and sexual deviants. My father prides himself on being for Black liberation. However, these judgments rooted in religion that he places on Black women and LGBTQ-plus people do not reflect that. Wanting liberty for all Black people except when they are different from you is not wanting equality.
He does not realize how interconnected the struggle of the communities he looks down upon is with the Black struggle. He is not the only one; many black Christians think the way he does. As long as people like my father put themselves in positions of leadership, there will be few real tangible strides for racial equality.
Zyah, 20, is from Charlotte, N.C., and attends the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C., with plans to major in informational sciences.
Shaun Chaney
Religion places barriers against important dialogue and thoughts that are necessary for advancement as a species.
Religion has been used to justify the disenfranchisement of people. Religion played a huge role in the political and social landscape of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Religious ideologies, especially those of the Catholic Christians, were used to justify the slavery and dehumanization of the African people.
The systems put in place by religious institutions inherently will hinder racial equality and civil rights if we continue to teach less of history and science while allowing people to teach their kids the biases that religion creates.
Shaun, 20, is from Capitol Heights, Md., and attends Goucher College in Baltimore with plans to major in political science.
Dominique Davie
Religion, while a great tool of faith and self-discovery, takes away humanity’s ability of natural moral discernment, thus suppressing those who initially contrast standard religious beliefs.
From social movements in history and current times, people are passive in their compassion and respect to one another. It won’t be until we can start to learn empathy and perspective toward the people we walk side by side with every day. This doesn’t come from religion and a sermon on Sunday, but instinctual awareness. That’s the hindrance of religion on civil progress: the dampening of what it means to be humans.
Dominique, 18, is from Crofton, Ky, and will be attending Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.
Georgia Davis
Examples of people of color being oppressed due to religion can be found within the history of American Indian/Indigenous communities, regions of Africa and in regions along South Asia.
As European colonizers/conquerors were predominantly Roman Catholic, they forced their religion upon the Indigenous tribes in order to convert and “civilize” the people group. Thus, while attempting to promote their religion, European imperialists actually resulted in eliminating the rights and lives/well-being of Indigenous peoples.
Overall, while it may be true that religion has furthered civil rights agendas in some instances, clashing religions and efforts of conversion ended in mass genocide and forced religion for Indigenous people groups.
Georgia, 18, is from Beebe, Ark., and will be attending the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Ark., with plans to major in international business.
Bianca Dishmon
Christians tend to strictly adhere to the doctrines outlined in the bible surrounding race. However, in the majority of cases, these doctrines are misconstrued in order to fit an overarching agenda.
I’ve had the pleasure of taking a comparative religion class, during which I have had the ability to study religions that I had been previously unfamiliar with. Through this class, I gained a deeper understanding of the five dominant world religions and the ways they interact with one another, and I truly believe that if every individual took the time to do the same, there would be less hindrance between race and religion, and we would all be on a journey toward improvement in the relationship between religion and race.
Bianca, 18, is from Germantown, Tenn., and will be attending Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., with plans to earn a law degree.
Bridelle Toumani
The First Amendment includes the Establishment Clause, outlining the idea that the U.S. government cannot show preference to a religion or establish an official one. However, Christianity has had a major say in the public policy of our country for many years, as it is usually the predominant premise behind the “banning of abortions” argument. Christianity also allowed for the continuance of slavery, since excerpts of its religious texts suggested that slaves must obey their masters.
Religions in today’s America are blinders of perspective, limiting the scope for followers to think rationally outside the scope of their pious beliefs.
Equal opportunities for people of all races and all sexual orientations should be a given as we are born with natural rights that are unalienable. However, religion skews it as a privilege, when it should solely promote autonomy, not diminish it.
Bridelle, 18, is from West Henrietta, N.Y., and will be attending Russell Sage College in Troy, N.Y., with plans to major in biology.
