Is this a case of religious freedom, a substandard Marine or both?

via CharismaNews.

Liberty Institute and volunteer attorney Paul Clement asked the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF)—the highest military court whose cases are subject to review by the Supreme Court of the United States—to review the case of Lance Corporal (LCpl) Monifa Sterling, USMC. LCpl Sterling was convicted at a court-martial for putting a Bible verse on her computer when she was stationed at Camp Lejune, North Carolina.
After being criminally prosecuted by the United States Government, LCpl Sterling initially represented herself, then appealed her case to the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals. She again cited her First Amendment rights to religious expression, as well as her protection under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). RFRA is a vital law that has been used in court to protect religious liberty in various contexts.
But in this case, both the trial and the appellate court said RFRA did not apply because displaying a Bible verse does not constitute religious exercise. Sterling and her attorneys take issue with this opinion.
"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," says Liberty Institute Director of Military Affairs and Senior Counsel Mike Berry. "Restricting a Marine's free exercise of religion is blatantly unconstitutional."

Read the whole story here (whole printed story at least).

My take?

I get the whiff of alot more going on behind the scenes than we're being told.  You're gonna court-martial a Marine for not taking down a bible verse under the guise of disobeying an order?

That sounds heavy handed....and not the Marine Corps I remember.

I'm hoping that this was just the final straw and a SNCO finally got tired of a substandard Marine and decided that this was the time to strike.

Even with that though I would have recommended doing this a different way about a different topic.

Which brings me back to the leadership in this shop.  Where were the leaders to counsel this Marine's boss on how to properly deal with this wayward soul?  Why wasn't she already on notice that unless she got her act together there would be pain and misery waiting?

Why did it have to turn into this massive cluster?

As far as the religious freedom crowd is concerned.  I'm not buying it.  You can't come to the defense of every Tom, Dick and Harriet that claims they're being "discriminated" against.  That's not at all the way the military works.  I'm betting that if we dug a bit deeper we'd find all kinds of 'drama' revolving around this workplace.  Oh and a sidenote.  While I'm working on my spiritual life (organized religion just doesn't do it for me) I will note that freedom of religion is a two edged sword.  What happens when you have Muslim soldiers wanting calls to prayer on base...and getting it under religious freedom?  What happens when you have Satan worshippers wanting a display adjacent the front gate to advertise their membership drive?

Religion is like sexual orientation.  I don't know what you are and what you do unless you insist on telling me AND insist on me approving.