Sgt. Ricky Clousing—a born-again Christian who went AWOL when he realized the war in Iraq was not being fought morally—will be released from military prison on Saturday after serving three months for his decision to leave the army. Quaker House, an organization based in North Carolina that assists GIs in understanding their rights, is holding a “coming-out” party for him partly to draw attention to his story and abuses of power that caused Clousing to leave the army. Read more background on his inspiring story in a wonderful New York Times profile from last month.

Though he was not raised in a religious family, Clousing began attending a Presbyterian Church during high school after having a born-again experience which showed him that “God had another plan for [him].” He spent the next four summers on mission trips in Mexico and eventually traveled to Thailand with the evangelical group “Youth with Mission.”

Clousing joined the army in 2004 thinking that he could serve God and his country at the same time. However, after just a few months working as a Tactical Interrogator in Iraq, Clousing began to see the war as both immoral and illegal, and found that he was forced to “re-evaluate [his] beliefs and [his] ethics.” He simply could not reconcile his beliefs and the teachings of Jesus with the horrors and the abuses of power he witnessed each and every day.

After an Army Chaplain dismissed Clousing’s doubts, he turned to Quaker House, where Chuck Fager, the director, assured him that his feelings about the war were neither crazy nor heretic. With this affirmation, Clousing decided he could not go back to Iraq and, seeing it as the only way out, he went AWOL. Fourteen months later, he turned himself in and was sentenced to three month in military prison.

To read more about Clousing’s story, check out his website. The Quaker House website also provides some interesting case studies about GIs who have made similar decisions or whose rights have been violated.

Many in the faith community have been calling for a more just war in Iraq, and stories like Clousing’s simply underscore the need for people of faith to continue this important work.