I've always been an atheist for all my life I guess. Neither of my parents were religious in anyway so I never encountered religion at home and my school life wasn't particularly religious either.
I think there are many double standards when it comes to these sort of scholarships. I personally don't think race or ethnicity should ever be a reasonable criteria to judge them on.
I'm in favour of it. Especially after watching the documentary Terry Pratchett made on it (the author of Discworld and a strong supporter of legalising assisted death).