High Military Court Will Decide Case of Marine Punished for Bible Verse

Charlotte, N.C., Nov 28, 2015 / 06:13 am (CNA).- The highest U.S. military court will hear the case of a Marine who says her religious freedom was compromised when she was ordered to remove a Bible verse from her work station.

In May 2013, Lance Corporal (LCpl) Monifa Sterling refused to follow a superior's order to remove a Bible verse from her workspace. In ruling on the case earlier this year, the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals sided against Sterling, saying that significant damage could be caused by forcing military employees to work in the presence of a religious quotation.

"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 said in its ruling on the case.

"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, especially if that service member does not share that religion."

"The risk that such exposure could impact the morale or discipline of the command is not slight," the court continued. "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., and a command may act preemptively to prevent this detrimental effect."

The case centers on an incident two years ago, in which Sterling was stationed at Camp Lejune in North Carolina. A devout Christian, she chose to place at her workstation three slips of paper with the words, "No weapon formed against me shall prosper," a modification of the Bible verse......

She was not engaged in a combat zone and that order countermanded centuries of hallowed tradition.

So men and women in the military only have to obey orders if they are in a combat zone? Who knew? I guess if you are black female, military orders and disciple don't apply?

And what centuries of hallowed tradition was she following by putting up not 1 copy, not 2 copies but 3 copies of the exact same quote - "No weapon formed against me shall prosper" -- in 28-point type on her computer's tower, her monitor and her desk, a computer and desk she shared with others. Did her or could her fellow Maries with whom she shared this workspace also tape 3 copies of a saying (Biblical or other) on the same computer?

And she wasn't even quoting it correctly: "No weapon that is formed against thee (or you) shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord."

Sterling told military officials that the posted passage helped her summon patience when dealing with short-tempered Marines who were frustrated with their CAC problems.

One could see it as her posting the "No weapon formed against me shall prosper" quote as an admonishment not to give her any sort of guff or complain too much which might be why "A military judge determined that the quotations, "could be interpreted as combative ... [and] could easily be seen as contrary to good order and discipline," court records show." Not because they were religious, even if that was the reason that her CO objected, but because it was seen as being antagonistic toward those she was there to help.

Monifa is not the problem. So-called conservatives who don't have sense enough to defend basic Constitutional freedoms is the problem.

"At the time, a military court subsequently noted, Sterling was "locked in an antagonistic relationship with her superiors" that extended beyond the dispute with over the biblical phrases, and she faced several charges of disobeying orders."

Monifa refused to wear as ordered by a different officer, a class C uniform claiming a medical exemption for a hip injury (a medical chit) that had a handwritten note on that said wearing a class C uniform could be "difficult" but was not explicitly excused from wearing one; she then refused to report to gate duty when ordered claiming "stress reaction" and that she believed her medical chit which recommended "light duty" exempted her from standing; another time she refused another order to report for gate duty, this time by a Major, citing that a migraine medication she was on would cause dizziness and drowsiness but then admitted during her court martial that while she usually took the medication as prescribed, at night before going to bed, on the day she refused to obey that order to report to gate duty, she'd taken the medication in the morning so as that a migraine wouldn't interfere with her attending church services earlier that day.

Read the transcript of her 1st appeal here and get back to me on Monifa and how her "Constitutional Right" not to follow orders were trampled on and whether she deserved to get booted out of the Marines.

https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2784127/united-states-v-sterling/

Re: Bergdahl - on this I absolute do not disagree with you at all. Bergdahl should have been court-martialed and either facing a firing squad or life in prison by now. But Bergdahl still faces serious charges and the possibility of prison time. Although I doubt the White Hut will allow that to happen if Obama has any say in it.

Military selects rarely used charge for Bowe Bergdahl case

On the other hand, it seems like they want to make an example out of this woman. If it had been a verse from the Koran, she never would have been told to take it down for fear of workplace violence.

I would agree with you if posting the Bible verses were the only issues at hand. Sterling never faced prison but was bumped down in rank and given a bad-conduct discharge, which after reading the transcript - I have to agree with.

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