A United States Marine was convicted at a court-martial for refusing to remove a Bible verse on her computer – a verse of Scripture the military determined “could easily be seen as contrary to good order and discipline.”
The offensive verse,“NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST ME SHALL PROSPER.”
Fox News reported:
The plight of Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling seems unbelievable – a member of the Armed Forces criminally prosecuted for displaying a slightly altered passage of Scripture from the Old Testament: “No weapon formed against me shall prosper.”
Sterling, who represented herself at trial, was convicted February 1, 2014 in a court-martial at Camp Lejune, North Carolina after she refused to obey orders from a staff sergeant to remove the Bible verses from her desk.
She was found guilty of failing to go to her appointed place of duty, disrespect toward a superior commissioned officer, and four specifications of disobeying the lawful order of a noncommissioned officer.
The Christian Marine was given a bad conduct discharge and a reduction in rank from lance corporal to private.
Both lower court and the appellate court ruled that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act did not apply to her case because displaying a Bible verse does not constitute religious exercise.
However, a religious liberty law firm and a high-powered, former U.S. solicitor general have taken up her case and have filed an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
“If the government can order a Marine not to display a Bible verse, they could try and order her not to get a religious tattoo, or go to church on Sunday,” said Liberty Institute attorney Michael Berry. “Restricting a Marine’s free exercise of religion is blatantly unconstitutional.”
Sterling wised up and finally got legal counsel. Now representing her are the Liberty Institute along with former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, also a law professor at Georgetown University.
Clement most recently won a Supreme Court victory on behalf of Hobby Lobby against the Affordable Care Act.
Read the full story at Fox News
Has the world gone mad? This is not the United States Marine Corp that I always respected and honored. It is the entire Military Forces responsibility to uphold the Constitutional rights for Americans to worship GOD in their own way. THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS. Not some unconstitutional quip or idea that a hateful superior with bias and prejudice has. All the Military gave a sworn oath to defend the Nation of the United States and the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic! WHAT HAS HAPPENED WITH OUR UNITED STATES?
As a Colonel in the U.S. Army JAG Corps with nearly 25 years of experience in handling military justice cases, I can say with certainty that this–assuming it’s true–is the most egregious abuse of command authority I have ever witnessed. Not only should this Marine be restored to her position and rank; the chain of command that engineered this travesty should themselves be court martialed for conduct unbecoming, and the JAG officer who represented the government at the court martial should be relieved of his license to practice law. Too bad this is in a Service different from mine. If this happened in the Army, particularly anywhere near my chain of command, I would be calling for an investigation into both the commander and the legal staff.
She was found guilty of failing to go to her appointed place of duty, disrespect toward a superior commissioned officer, and four specifications of disobeying the lawful order of a noncommissioned officer. Orders are orders and rules are rules for a reason, sir! She disobeyed them and must pay the price! You sir, should know better!
She was given an order to remove the verse from a government computer! She disobeyed a direct order and needs to be punished! End of story!