Posted on 07/14/2015 10:56:32 AM PDT by epow
We are fighting back.
Today, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) asked the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to grant review in a major religious liberty case, United States v. Sterling. In Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling’s case, the United States Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals held that the Marines could order Sterling to remove a Bible verse that she had posted in her work station. Sterling, a devout Christian, posted Isaiah 54:17 (“no weapon formed against you shall prosper”) in three places around her work station.
Our amicus brief, filed on behalf of 42 Members of Congress, urges the court to recognize the importance of this case and to grant review to reverse the lower court’s outrageous holding that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) did not apply to Sterling’s case. Our brief argues that Congress intended RFRA to apply to the United States Military and that Sterling’s posting of scripture verses at her work station was certainly an exercise of Sterling’s religion sufficient to trigger RFRA’s protection.
Although the lower court had acknowledged that RFRA extended broad protection to religious liberty, the court adopted a very narrow definition of the statutory term “exercise of religion” and arrived at the startling conclusion that Sterling was not exercising her religion by displaying a Bible verse.
Our brief argues that the lower court’s decision sets military tribunals up as theological experts evaluating the validity of religious beliefs, and clearly violates the First Amendment principle that no court is competent to dissect religious beliefs, or to pass judgment on whether those beliefs are part of a religious belief system.
(Excerpt) Read more at aclj.org ...
It’s odd that they would ban a passage that isn’t even controversial, i.e., it has nothing to do with homosexuality, sin, prophecy, the need for repentance, Jesus, or any of the usual topics that trigger a negative reaction from non-believers. There was nothing remotely provocative about the passage.
If anyone is interested try this:
http://aclj.org/religious-liberty/aclj-key-members-of-congress-urge-armed-services-appeals-court-to-hear-religious-liberty-case.
Amen. Especially in the military when they are all about weapons and probably why the US is getting their butt kicked in Afghanistan.
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