Case of US Marine court-martialed for failure to remove Bible verse, insubordination appealed

A pro-religious freedom group has asked the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) to review the case of former Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling, who was convicted last year by a military court for refusing to remove a Bible verse she put on her computer and disobeying other orders at Camp Lejune, North Carolina.

The Liberty Institute and lawyer Paul Clement are taking Sterling's case.

She represented herself during the trial and was convicted in February last year.

A special court-martial found her guilty of failing to go to her appointed place of duty, disrespect towards a superior commissioned officer, and four specifications of disobeying the lawful order of a noncommissioned officer in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

She was sentenced to be reduced to pay grade E-1, and a bad-conduct discharge.

She appealed her case to the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals, which affirmed her sentence last February.

During the hearings, she cited her First Amendment rights to religious expression and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in putting up the sign "no weapon formed against me shall prosper" at her workplace.

The appeals court said RFRA did not apply because displaying a Bible verse does not constitute religious exercise.

"When considered in context, we find that the verbiage in these signs could be interpreted as combative and agree with the military judge that the signs placement in the shared workspace could therefore 'easily be seen as contrary to good order and discipline.' For this reason as well, the orders to remove the signs were lawful," the military appeals court said.

In May 2013, Stering's job was to sit a desk and use a computer to assist Marines having problems with their common access cards.

She then printed three copies of the biblical quote "no weapon formed against me shall prosper" on paper, cut them and tape each one of them to the computer.

On May 20, a staff sergeant ordered her to remove the signs and she refused. The staff sergeant removed them himself but the following day, Sterling put them up again.

She was again ordered to remove them and she refused. The staff sergeant removed the signs again.

"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 Director of Military Affairs and Senior Counsel Mike Berry. "Restricting a Marine's free exercise of religion is blatantly unconstitutional."

They are asking the court to rule that the appeals court should have applied RFRA in Sterling's case.

"If a service member has a right to display a secular poster, put an atheist bumper sticker on their car, or get a Star of David tattoo," said Berry, "then Lance Corporal Sterling has the right to display a small Bible verse on her computer monitor."