Marine Cries Denial of Religious Liberty Saying She Was Fired for Refusing Orders to Remove Bible Verse From Her Desk
Three years after she was convicted by a military court, a member of the U.S. Marines has come out to contest the court's decision, which she says denied her of her religious liberty.
Former Lance Cpl. Monifa Sterling was taken to military court and subsequently convicted on Feb. 1, 2014 for refusing to obey her military superior who ordered her to remove copies of a Bible verse from her computer and desk at Camp Lejune, North Carolina — a verse the military determined "could easily be seen as contrary to good order and discipline," Fox News reported.
The verse is Isaiah 54:17, stating, "No weapon formed against you shall prosper."
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According to a 2015 decision by the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals, which upheld her conviction, Sterling was taken to court for refusal to wear her uniform because it allegedly interfered with her back brace, and declining to help distribute vehicle passes to family members when ordered to do so by her superiors, according to Military.com.
But Sterling is contesting an incident in which she was ordered by her supervisor, a staff sergeant, to remove three paper strips taped to her computer and on her desk containing the biblical verse.
Her superior allegedly cursed her and told her to take them down. When she didn't, the staff sergeant allegedly took them and threw them away, LifeSite News reported.
After she was convicted, Sterling had her rank reduced to private and she was given a "bad conduct" discharge, which has since made it difficult for her to find a job.
Her conviction was upheld even though the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993 allows U.S. military personnel to exercise their faith freely.
However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled that religious freedom did not apply in Sterling's case because removing the biblical verse on her desk posed no "real burden" in exercising her faith as displaying such a verse was not a religious exercise.
The court further ruled that because others shared Sterling's desk, the scripture was a threat to good order, according to the Wall Street Journal. "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," it said.
First Liberty Institute attorney Michael Berry, who represents Sterling, countered that other U.S. Marine personnel were allowed to decorate their desks, and that at the time of the incident, Sterling's desk was not used by anyone else.
Berry said the court's decision to uphold Sterling's conviction is a clear case of anti-Christian bias. "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," he said, as quoted by CBN News.
He pointed out that "restricting a Marine's free exercise of religion is blatantly unconstitutional."
Sterling has expressed hope that her case would be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
First Liberty Institute has filed a request for a writ of certiorari to allow for a Supreme Court review of her case, according to LifeSite News.
