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| FFRF: College Essay Competition |
| Essay |
Write an essay on the given topic.
2008 FFRF College Essay Competition
First Prize: Michael Hakeem Memorial Award--$2,000
Second Place--$1,000
Third Place--$500
Honorable Mention(s)--$100
"Why I am an Atheist/Agnostic/Unbeliever"
"Growing Up A Freethinker" or "Rejecting Religion"
Eligibility: Currently-enrolled college students. (High school seniors enrolling in college this fall should enter the High School Essay Competition.)
Topic choices: Write about growing up a freethinker (atheist or agnostic), or why you reject religion, using a personal (biographical) or philosophical approach, or describing why you choose reason over faith. Experiences in rejecting religion in a religious society may be included.
Requirements: College students should submit a 4-5 page essay (typed, standard margins, double-spaced, stapled), choosing their own title, and including a one-paragraph biography. Do not include a resume.
Deadline: July 1, 2008. College essays should be postmarked no later than July 1, 2008. College winners will be announced in September 2008. No e-mails or faxes accepted. The competition is limited to North American students or students enrolled in North American colleges or universities at least through December 2008.
Winners will be asked to provide a photograph suitable for publication. By entering our contest, winning students agree to have their essays printed in full or in part in Freethought Today, the Foundation's newspaper, and later posted online at our web site. Winners will receive a school-year subscription to Freethought Today. All eligible non-winning entrants will be offered the choice of a freethought book, or a school-year subscription to Freethought Today.
Who was Michael Hakeem? Michael Hakeem was a professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who died at age 90 in 2006. Mike, the son of first-generation immigrants, was the first in his family to go to college and went on to earn a Ph.D. He influenced generations with his classes in critical thinking. A stalwart atheist, he was chair of the Foundation's governing board for many years. The college competition, which has been offered as a memorial for several activist Foundation members over the last 30 years, is now being offered as a memorial to this Foundation activist, volunteer and benefactor.
Mail (do not email) essay, postmarked no later than July 1, 2008, to
:
College Essay Competition
FFRF, Inc.
PO Box 750
Madison WI 53701
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| Freedom From Religion Foundation |
The history of Western civilization shows us that most social and moral progress has been brought about by persons free from religion.
In modern times the first to speak out for prison reform, for humane treatment of the mentally ill, for abolition of capital punishment, for women's right to vote, for death with dignity for the terminally ill, and for the right to choose contraception, sterilization and abortion have been freethinkers, just as they were the first to call for an end to slavery.
The Foundation works as an umbrella for those who are free from religion and are committed to the cherished principle of separation of state and church.
What is the Foundation's purpose?
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc., is an educational group working for the separation of state and church. Its purposes, as stated in its bylaws, are to promote the constitutional principle of separation of state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
Incorporated in 1978 in Wisconsin, the Foundation is a national membership association of freethinkers: atheists, agnostics and skeptics of any pedigree. The Foundation is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization under Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3). All dues and contributions are deductible for income tax purposes.
Why is the Foundation concerned with state/church entanglement?
First Amendment violations are accelerating. The religious right is campaigning to raid the public till and advance religion at taxpayer expense, attacking our secular public schools, the rights of nonbelievers, and the Establishment Clause.
The Foundation recognizes that the United States was first among nations to adopt a secular Constitution. The founders who wrote the U.S. Constitution wanted citizens to be free to support the church of their choice, or no religion at all. Our Constitution was very purposefully written to be a godless document, whose only references to religion are exclusionary.
It is vital to buttress the Jeffersonian "wall of separation between church and state" which has served our nation so well.
What does the Foundation do?
Files lawsuits!
Publishes the only freethought newspaper in the United States, Freethought Today
Sponsors annual high school and college freethought essay competitions with cash awards
Conducts lively, annual national conventions, honoring an annual "Freethinker of the Year" for state/church activism, a "Freethought Heroine" and student activists
Bestows "The Emperor Has No Clothes" Award and statuette to public figures for plain speaking on religion
Promotes freedom from religion with educational products, bumperstickers, music CDs, winter solstice greeting cards and literature
Publishes useful freethought books
Provides speakers for events and debates
Established a freethought book collection at the University of Wisconsin Memorial Library as well as a 2,000-volume office collection
What are the Foundation's accomplishments?
The Foundation acts on countless violations of separation of state and church on behalf of members and the public, including: Prayers in public schools, payment of public funds for religious purposes, government funding of pervasively sectarian institutions, and the ongoing campaign against civil rights for women, gays and lesbians led by churches.
The Foundation keeps several challenges in the courts at all times, and has ended a variety of violations of the First Amendment. |
| 2008-07-01 |
| 3 |
| $500 |
| $2000 |
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| North America |
| 13,14,15,16,17,18 |
| This contest is open to any currently enrolled college student. Essay must be postmarked by July 1st. |
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| http://www.ffrf.org/essay/college.php |
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