Written by Don Byrd
Each year since 2006, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty has conducted an essay contest for high school juniors with prizes including scholarship money and a trip to Washington, D.C. The winners for this year have been announced!
From the BJC press release:
This year’s essay topic asked students to examine religious diversity in America and evaluate the claim that the United States was founded as a “Christian nation.” More than 430 high school juniors and seniors from 46 states – as well as students from China and Sweden – submitted entries.
The grand prize winner is Christian Belanger of Wallingford, Pa. His essay, titled “Christianity and the Founding Fathers: Exploring America’s Purported Religious Origins,” made the case that the United States was not founded as a “Christian nation” while exploring the dangers of misinterpreting its religious origin. Belanger’s essay examined the Constitution and the archival writings of the Founding Fathers to come to his conclusion. In his essay, Belanger wrote that “America was definitely not founded as a ‘Christian nation,’ despite the Christian leanings of many of its founders. Furthermore, these misinformed and dangerous attempts at mythologizing the genesis – pun intended – of America and its religious influences may contribute, in harmful ways, to the oppression of minority beliefs.”
You can read the award-winning essays here. Do you know a high school junior who may like to participate for next year’s essay competition? Tell them about the BJC!
