Supreme Court Refuses to Even Hear Military Religious Freedom Case

Marine lance corporal Monifa J. Sterling had a piece of paper at her work station with a message that was paraphrased from this verse in the Bible:

Sterling’s sign was just a paraphrase of that verse: “No weapons formed against me shall prosper.”  However, her supervisor objected to the message’s “tone” and threw it away.  Sterling printed out the words again, and later found it in the trash can again. Sterling then received a court-martial, and a court ruled that Sterling had no right to display the Scripture.

Will the Supreme Court protect our religious liberty? If you hoped so…think again. They are sitting it out. The Supreme Court just announced it would not hear United States v. Sterling, which means the lower court’s ruling will stand.  It’s a sad day in America when the Marine Corps can prohibit a Marine from displaying her favorite Scripture verses. Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jerry Boykin (Vice President of the Family Research Council) told Townhall  explained how disappointing this is:

“The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear this case has the unfortunate effect of allowing a chill on religious expression in the military to continue, and only underscores the need for the Trump administration to root out the anti-religious animus allowed to fester in the military during the Obama administration,” he said. “Defense Secretary Mattis must consider the many complex ramifications of anti-religious Obama-era policies that remain in effect. The DOD and Congress need to ensure the priorities of the U.S. armed forces remain those that the Secretary has outlined: mission readiness, command proficiency, and combat effectiveness – not squelching religion — which is actually quite necessary to readiness and effectiveness. Holdover personnel from the Obama administration need to focus on these priorities, and not on the last administration’s social engineering projects that ignore military readiness.”

MJ Randolph at Truth Revolt has more:

The Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the case is expected but also very very disappointing.  As a nation, we’re asking our members of the military to protect our freedom, while stripping them of theirs.  This anti-religion bias needs to be removed from all branches of our government.

We must take these rights back from the government, and vest them in the people, where they naturally reside. (Find out how here.)

UNITED STATES V. STERLING

Marine court-martialed for refusing to remove Bible verse in her workspace@CSPANWJ pic.twitter.com/ccJRRcVPRt

— Bill Badey (@10903) July 1, 2016

Photo Credit WikiMedia