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Home arrow News & Opinions arrow Press Room arrow Baptist Joint Committee announces winners of 2010 Religious Liberty Essay Contest
Baptist Joint Committee announces winners of 2010 Religious Liberty Essay Contest PDF Print E-mail

High school students write about landmark JFK speech concerning religion and politics on its 50th anniversary

flag-and-crossWASHINGTON – The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty has announced the winners of the 2010 Religious Liberty Essay Scholarship Contest, sponsored by the Religious Liberty Council of the Baptist Joint Committee.

High school juniors and seniors from 17 states entered. In their essays, students reacted to John F. Kennedy’s landmark 1960 speech about the relationship between his religion and his politics and the separation of church and state. September 12 marks the 50th anniversary of the speech.

Click here to read about the winners.

The grand prize winner was Nathan Webb from Lumberton, Texas. His essay discussed the importance of the separation of church and state, saying the “challenge of implementing this principle is as great today as it was in 1960.” Webb also wrote, “to protect the free exercise of religion for all, the rights of the minority must be preserved.” Webb quoted Kennedy, who made the same point in his speech, stating, “For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been – and may someday be again – a Jew, or a Quaker, or a Unitarian, or a Baptist.”

Webb will receive a $1,000 scholarship and a trip to Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the Baptist Joint Committee board meeting in October. A rising senior at Lumberton High School, Webb is the son of Dr. Bob and Dianne Webb and attends First Baptist Church of Loeb.

Benjamin Miller earned the second place prize of a $500 scholarship. A 2010 graduate of Moline High School in Moline, Ill., Miller is the son of Flint and Debra Miller and a member of First Baptist Church of Moline. His essay examined the history of the relationship between church and state through the lens of James Madison’s words, previous Supreme Court rulings and contemporary issues. Miller concluded, “JFK’s vision of a complete separation of church and state has made great headway in the past fifty years, but is still not close to being a reality.”

The third place winner was Melody Wu from East Hanover, N.J. A 2010 graduate of Hanover Park High School, Wu will receive a $100 scholarship. She is the daughter of Ming-Ju Wu and Tzu-Yun Li. Her essay examined how religion played a role in recent presidential elections, concluding it might be possible one day that America’s leader will not attend church, “but it does not appear probable in the near future. The nation that Kennedy called for in his speech, which separates church and state, has not come to pass and may never come to pass.”

The Religious Liberty Essay Scholarship Contest was established in 2006 to engage high school juniors and seniors in church-state issues.  A panel of judges issued scores based on the content of each essay and the author’s writing skills.

Nathan Webb’s winning essay will be printed in a forthcoming issue of Report from the Capital, the Baptist Joint Committee’s monthly newsletter. For more information on the Baptist Joint Committee, visit www.BJConline.org


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The Baptist Joint Committee is a 74-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based religious liberty organization that works to defend and extend God-given religious liberty for all, bringing a uniquely Baptist witness to the principle that religion must be freely exercised, neither advanced nor inhibited by government.
 
 
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