Jake* has spent 14 long years serving his country in the U.S. Army and earning the rank of Major. Jake says the Lord called him to serve and defend the Constitution that protects our rights—and no right is higher than the right to life and religious freedom.
As a devout Christian, Jake refuses to take any drug associated with aborted fetal cells. He dutifully submitted his religious accommodation request, (RAR) to his chain of command months and months ago, with no response.
That is, until he showed up for duty one morning and found that his orders had been deleted. Although the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act protects service members like Jake, that has not stopped Biden and his anti-Christian administration from putting “the squeeze” on faithful religious service members like Jake.
Unable to pressure these soldiers into compliance with Biden’s unlawful orders, the administration is employing new tactics designed to force members to either cave or quit.
“I’ve been reassigned to the broom closet,” says Jake, who informed us that officers like himself call this tactic the “administrative bleed of death.” Jake has been assigned to an empty room with nothing to do with regular check-ins by the chain of command to ensure he is doing nothing.
In a similar manner, one of our plaintiffs has been sequestered at home for months. He was called to base, a significant drive from his home. Once there, he was ordered to move just six boxes, then was sent home again.
This is an abusive tactic whereby the military makes clear that your career is over and slowly bleeds the service member’s time and patience knowing that statistically these pressures cause service members to quit within a year.
Biden and his Department of Defense’s (DOD) mindset remind me of the temptation of Christ, the theme being “all this agony could be over if you would just forfeit your faith … “
Christians cannot serve in Biden’s military, but HIV+ and “transgenders” can! We intend to change this picture.
Even though the DOD is unlawfully denying religious exemptions for service members from the COVID shots, the department updated its policies June 8, 2022, to allow service members who test positive for HIV to continue to serve on active duty.
In other words, an HIV-positive service member remains deployable while an otherwise healthy service member who submits a religious accommodation request from the COVID shot is “non-deployable” and subject to dismissal.
In April 2021, the DOD revised its policies on so-called “transgender” service members. Even though such service members may undergo opposite sex hormone treatment and life-altering surgery, the Biden DOD says they may serve openly and will not be discharged from the service.
Yet, again, healthy service members who submit religious accommodation requests are being brought up for discharge and severe punishment.
And to add insult to injury, last week the U.S. Air Force announced it will unlawfully pay for abortions, even though the Hyde Amendment prohibits the federal government from doing so. From top to bottom, it seems the Biden administration is both lawless and depraved.
Last week, Liberty Counsel filed an amended complaint adding yet more Marines to our massive class action case. We also filed for an extension of the temporary restraining order protecting our Air Force cadet plaintiff. This month, we will be filing amended complaints for the rest of the military branches as we continue to move toward class certification.
These last two years under the lawless Biden administration have taxed Liberty Counsel’s resources like never before. We are fighting on all fronts to protect and preserve religious freedom, from defending pastors and churches to defending military members, employees and students against the shot mandates, while also defending life. {eoa}
*Name changed to protect privacy.
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