He was told that he would be

'unable to put aside his personal convictions and pray with his troops' and would have trouble bonding with them if promoted to a leadership position.

Apparently believing in god is required to be a leader? Since when? Constantine led the Normans in the crusades as an atheist (though he had to hide it).

This is just completely appaling. As a former Officer in the United States military, this sickens me. To think that our country was founded on freedom , one of those most important freedoms being religious freedom(this man actively fought for it). And the very institution that is employed to protect those freedoms are being denied it themselves.

I hope the board/people that denied his promotion is dealt with properly and recieves a fair punishment as at least that would show that the military itself has some backbone.

His attorney put it well:

It is beyond despicable, indeed wholly unlawful, that the United States Army is actively attempting to destroy the professional career of one of its decorated young fighting soldiers, with two completed combat tours in Iraq, simply because he had the rare courage to stand up for his constitutional rights

SOURCE: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080306/ap_on_re_us/military_religion_lawsuit