{"id":35012,"date":"2016-04-27T00:35:08","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T03:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/?p=35012"},"modified":"2016-11-24T21:41:54","modified_gmt":"2016-11-25T00:41:54","slug":"general-boykin-frc-to-attend-court-martial-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/27\/general-boykin-frc-to-attend-court-martial-appeal\/","title":{"rendered":"General Boykin, FRC to Attend Court Martial Appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"

UPDATE<\/strong><\/span>: Various media outlets published coverage of the hearing, which generally appeared to go well for Sterling.\u00a0 Noted at the Religion Clause<\/a>, FoxNews<\/a>, Washington Post<\/a>, Stars and Stripes<\/a>, ChristianPost<\/a>, Bretibart<\/a>, the Daily Caller<\/a>, and NC Register<\/a>, among others.\u00a0 The ACLJ discussed it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The Family Research Council announced<\/a> retired US Army LtGen Jerry Boykin would attend the oral arguments today for the appeal<\/a> of\u00a0US v Sterling<\/em>, in which former Marine Monifa Sterling<\/a> is attempting to defend the public display of Bible verses on her desk.<\/p>\n

In this case, the court will decide whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) protects a Marine…lance corporal [who] desired to post the verses to give her inspiration and strength, but military superiors ordered her to remove the verses she posted.<\/p>\n

A lower court refused to protect her religious expression, interpreting RFRA in a constrained manner to protect only certain types of religious exercise. FRC and numerous other religious freedom advocates are urging the court to overturn this harmful decision.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In point of fact, a lot<\/em> of people<\/a> — including 10 US states — filed briefs<\/a> in support of Sterling. (Michael “Mikey” Weinstein tried to file a brief opposing her appeal but was rebuffed.)<\/p>\n

Said Travis Weber, the FRC’s Director of Religious Liberty and former Naval pilot [emphasis added]:<\/p>\n

While the military is certainly different from civilian society in many ways, the suppression of constitutional rights is not one of them<\/strong>. Service members retain their freedom of religion in the military<\/strong>, and indeed, are often strengthened by its exercise. Whether we all individually agree with the religious exercise at issue is not the point; what matters is the principle that all Americans have the freedom to believe and live out those beliefs<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You’d think that principled would draw self-declared advocates for military religious freedom to Sterling’s cause — though some are more concerned with stifling public displays of religion than defending religious liberty.<\/p>\n

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