Written by Don Byrd
A Sikh student at Hofstra University has won the right to join the school’s ROTC after a legal battle over Army rules prohibiting long hair and headgear. A District Judge in Washington, D.C. ruled the government failed to demonstrate how the rules were the least restrictive way to further a compelling state interest as required by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
Religion News Service reports:
In her decision, Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., said on Friday (June 12) that the Army has made so many exceptions for secular grooming issues — more than 197,000, including a “vampire Mickey Mouse” tattoo — that it had to make an exception here to comply with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
“All this Sikh student wants to do is to serve his country,” said Eric Baxter, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which supported the student’s case. “The military cannot issue uniform exemptions for secular reasons but then refuse to issue them for religious reasons. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was written and passed nearly unanimously by Congress precisely to protect the rights of individuals such as Mr. Singh.”
RFRA has gotten plenty of news this year as a potential way for individuals and closely held companies to avoid providing to same-sex couples services they object to on religious grounds. However, the federal law was primarily intended to protect individuals facing a dilemma like Iknoor Singh, who was forced to choose between following his faith and serving his country.
RFRA does not allow the government to put individuals to such a choice without having a very strong need to do so. According to the judge’s ruling (which you can read here), the Army’s grooming regulations fail to meet that standard.
