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 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.
As it now stands – Sterling is unemployed and looking for
work. It’s a process made harder because of the bad conduct discharge
from the military. Hopefully Liberty Institute will be able to restore
this Christian Marine’s good name and expunge the charge.
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.”
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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.
Liberty Institute and Clement plan to argue that the
appellate court should have applied the Religious Freedom Restoration
Act in Sterling’s case – protecting her right to post Bible verses as a
form of religious exercise.
According to the appellate court’s decision, they were
not convinced “that displaying religious text at a shared government
workstation would be protected even in a civilian federal workplace.”
They also considered the fact that Sterling’s desk was shared by other Marines.
“The implication is clear – the junior Marine sharing the
desk and the other Marines coming to the desk for assistance would be
exposed to biblical quotations in the military workplace,” the court
declared. “It is not hard to imagine the divisive impact to good order
and discipline that may result when a service member is compelled to
work at a government desk festooned with religious quotations.”
Festooned with religious quotations?
Attorney Berry points out that other Marines were allowed
to decorate their desks. However, the lower courts refused to allow
that evidence to be admitted. And at the time of the incident – Sterling
was not sharing a desk.
“This was a conflict between her and her supervisor,” he
told me. “Her supervisor clearly said she did not like the tone of the
Bible verses.”
Berry said the supervisor cursed at Sterling and ordered
her to immediately remove the verses. She refused the order. The
following day, she discovered the verses had been removed and thrown in
the trash.
“Adding insult to injury, the government charged her with
the crime of failing to obey a direct order because she did not remove
the Bible verse,” Berry said.
According to court documents, the military maintains the
“verbiage” – “No weapon formed against me shall prosper” could “easily
been seen as contrary to good order and discipline.”
“Maintaining discipline and morale in the military work
center could very well require that the work center remain relatively
free of divisive or contentious issues such as personal beliefs,
religion, politics, etc.”
Liberty Institute attorney Hiram Sasser told me it was
outrageous “that such a small strip of paper could so frighten a drill
sergeant.”
“This is a very scary time when you are not allowed to
have a very small printed Bible verse in your own personal workspace
because it might offend other Marines,” Sasser told me. “Our Marines are
trained to deal with some of the most hostile people on the planet. I
don’t think they are afraid of tiny words on a tiny piece of paper.”
The Bible verse incident happened in May 2013. A few
months later she was accused of failing to wear an appropriate uniform
because of a medical condition.
Berry told me he believes the military was trumping up the charge sheet “to make it look that things were worse than they were.”
As it now stands – Sterling is unemployed and looking for
work. It’s a process made harder because of the bad conduct discharge
from the military.
Hopefully Liberty Institute will be able to restore this Christian Marine’s good name and expunge the charge.
Anything less could jeopardize the standing of every
person of faith serving in the Armed Forces. Should that happen – God
help us all.