Nineteen years ago President George W. Bush visited Arlington National Cemetery to honor American soldiers who gave their lives for our country. One of those heroes was Captain Russell Rippetoe, who died in combat earlier that spring at a checkpoint not far from Hadithah Dam in Iraq.

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Bush noted in his remarks that Rippetoe’s dog tags included an engraving of Joshua 1:9, which he quoted, “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee.”

The President then concluded, “This faithful Army captain has joined a noble company of service and sacrifice gathered row by row. These men and women were strong and courageous and not dismayed. And we pray they have found their peace in the arms of God.”

A company called Shields of Strength (SoS), which incorporates Bible verses or relevant phrases into its products, produced Rippentoe’s dog tag. However, tags like the one that helped inspire this powerful reflection are now under attack.

While SoS operations began in the late 1990’s, its connections to Department of Defense (DoD) leaders gained significant strength after the 2001 launch of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. In fact, one historian of that period said, “Aside from the official insignias they wear, [the SoS dog tag] is the emblem most often carried by members of the military in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

The connection soldiers and their families feel to these shields has led to SoS producing millions of them. One veteran told First Liberty, which is now defending SoS, “This tag is faith. It’s believing that you’re going to live—and that even if you die, you’ll be holding hands with God for eternity. That’s what it means to me, and every veteran I know feels the same way.”

But times have changed at DoD, and top officials have become far less friendly to SoS in recent years. In fact, in 2019 — after years of both informally and formally permitting SoS to produce dog tags with military branch symbols — DoD suddenly pulled the plug on SoS. In one case, an email to SoS from an Army official with a subject line of “Negative Press” stated, “You are not authorized to put biblical verses on your Army products. For example Joshua 1:9. Please remove ALL biblical references from all of your Army products.”

Military leaders decided to quickly comply with the demands of a group that bills itself as the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. MRFF claims DoD was violating its own trademark guidelines prohibiting the licensing of its marks for anything “intended to promote ideological movements, sociopolitical change, religious beliefs (including non-belief), specific interpretations of morality, or legislative/statutory change.” And MRFF’s president this month criticized First Liberty’s “fundamentalist Christian nationalistic” work to defend SoS as “pathetically baseless in actual law.”

However, in court filings, First Liberty contends DoD is wrong in its policy on numerous fronts — not the least of which is its infringement on First Amendment freedoms of religion and speech, as well as statutory Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) protections. Leaning on the jurisprudence of the U.S. Supreme Court, First Liberty argues that DoD’s viewpoint censorship runs afoul of the U.S.. Constitution.

“Your directive that SoS remove all biblical references from its products demonstrates precisely the type of government hostility towards religion that the Establishment Clause forbids,” it said in an earlier letter to the Army.

When First Liberty filed its case for SoS late last year, General Counsel Mike Berry added, “DOD officials caved to the empty threats of those who make their living by being offended. There’s no legal reason for the military to discriminate against Shields of Strength.”

Will you pray for light and liberty to prevail in this case? And will you pray for the soldiers and military families for whom dog tags like these are precious reminders of God’s power and presence in even the most dire circumstances?

Aaron Mercer is a Contributing Writer with two decades of experience in Washington, D.C.’s public policy arena. Photo Credit: Holly Mindrup on Unsplash.