By Miriam Cho, BJC intern
The Baptist Joint Committee is pleased to announce the winners of the 2015 Religious Liberty Essay Scholarship Contest, sponsored by the Religious Liberty Council. The topic asked students to discuss if an employer should be able to dictate an employee’s attire, including whether an employee can wear religious garb. As an example, students could use the situation in the EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch case, in which a Muslim woman was not hired because of her headscarf.
This year, the BJC received almost 500 submissions from 44 states and the District of Columbia, as well as Puerto Rico and Italy.
The winner of the $2,000 grand prize is Zoe Almeida of San Antonio, Texas, for her essay titled“Balancing Act: On Compromise Between Businesses and Workers.” In her essay, Almeida argued that the burden of Abercrombie to accommodate the wearing of a headscarf was not “undue hardship.” She also acknowledged the vagueness of the accommodation law and wrote, “Balance is key to keeping our country a free society: between private practices and public interaction, between private business and individual rights.”
The daughter of Michael and Yvette Almeida, she will also receive a trip to Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the BJC board meeting in October. Almeida attends Blessed Sacrament Church in San Antonio and will enter her senior year at Antonian College Preparatory High School this fall.
The second place winner is Cassie Froese of Savage, Minnesota. She will receive $1,000 for her essay “To Wear Or Not to Wear: Forging a Mutually Beneficial Approach to Religious Freedom in the Workplace.” She supported company dress codes as long as they did not discriminate against any institute of religion and cited the best approach as negotiation between employer and employee. The daughter of Karl and Ruth Froese, Cassie is a home-schooled senior who will take PSEO courses at Normandale Community College this fall.
The winner of the $250 third place prize is Meghan Cahill of Louisville, Ohio, for her essay, “Employers Must Honor Religious Attire.” She argued that restrictions against religious garb, unless for reasons of safety or company integrity, were discriminatory practices and hindered diversity. She is the daughter of Kristin and Joe Cahill. Meghan is a graduate of Louisville High School and plans to attend Ohio State University and major in International Studies with a minor in Arabic.
Now entering its tenth year, the Religious Liberty Essay Scholarship Contest is open to all high school juniors and seniors. The topic for the 2016 contest is scheduled to be announced later this year. For more information, visit BJConline.org/contest.
From the July/August 2015 Report from the Capital. Click here to read the next story.
