Marine Lance Corporal Monifa J. Sterling liked to display a paraphrase of her favorite Scripture verse at her work station: “No weapons formed against me shall prosper.” When one of her supervisors objected to the "tone" of the saying, Sterling refused to take it down. Her supervisor took the message down at the end of the day, but Sterling posted it again the next day. Repeatedly, the messages ended up in the trash. Then, she was court-martialed. In the United States v. Sterling, a court ruled that Sterling had no right to display the Scripture.

Townhall has more, from Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jerry Boykin (who is also the vice president of the Family Research Council):

"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."

Boykin also points out that being in the armed forces actually presents situations that either require or might be aided by a healthy dose of faith:

"If one thing is clear from my 36 years in the military, it is that religious faith is indispensable for the soldier facing danger and the possibility of death in battle. Throughout the history of our magnificent military, faith has played a role not just in strengthening weak knees and frail hearts, but has actually made a difference in the actions of service members who act on this faith to accomplish deeds of valor. To rob the service member of the right to express this faith will do incalculable damage to the armed forces."

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.

Image Credit: Photo By Pfc. Rhita Daniel